Whooper Swan	White-tailed Sea-Eagle	Stellar's Sea-Eagle	Hazel Grouse
Japanese Crane	Far Eastern Curlew	Latham's Snipe	Ross's Gull
Blakiston's Fish-Owl	Ural Owl	Black Woodpecker	Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
Eurasian Skylark	Long-tailed Tit	Snow Bunting	Common Redpoll
Tree Sparrow	Eurasian Jay	Northern Raven	Buller's Shearwater*
Swan Goose*	Ashy Minivet*	To Checklist	To Bird Guide Top

Far Eastern Curlew   Numenius madagascariensis
Houroku-shigi

The Far Eastern Curlew passes through the Okhotsk region during its migrations in spring and autumn, but there are not very many of them. Its bill is so long that it seems too long for its body that is already quite large. Its distinctive call is a sharp "Hoh-een" or "Kah-lew" that can be heard from a distance.

The Eurasian Curlew (N. Arquata) resembles the Far Eastern Curlew but is overall a paler color, its belly and underwings are white, and its rump has white spots.

A large number of juveniles with bills not yet grown to full length accompany the adults on their autumn migration, and these juveniles can be mistakenly identified as Whimbrels (N. phaeopus) or Bristle-thighed Curlews (N. tahitiensis) [not yet recorded in the Okhotsk region], etc.

Shari, 5 May 2003
Shari, 5 May 2003