Curlew Nest Check

BirdNote^®

Curlew Nest Check

By Monica Gokey

This is BirdNote! 

I’m walking through an alfalfa field in central Idaho with research biologist Heather Hayes of the Intermountain Bird Observatory. Her GPS guides us to a Long-billed Curlew nest she’s been monitoring. We’re hoping to see the female.

Heather: Today is her hatch date, so we’re hoping that it’s on target.

Heather tells me curlews are typically on high alert on hatch day. But we see no adult birds. Huh. 

Heather finds the nest and we crouch down over it. There are four green eggs, speckled brown, camouflaged beautifully. Heather picks one up and shows me several small cracks in one part of the egg.

Heather: So the eggs are starring, which is when the chicks start to break out of the egg.

Heather gently lays a hand over the eggs. 

Heather: They feel pretty warm! But what’s concerning me is there’s no curlews around.

Before the West was settled, curlews weren’t nesting in alfalfa fields. They were nesting in rich, diverse native grasslands. 

An alfalfa field has a totally different species composition than a native grassland… but for the Long-billed Curlews, the function is similar. 

Is it similar enough for nesting success, though? And what happens if the alfalfa is harvested? 

To learn how this nest fared, subscribe to Threatened -- wherever you get your podcasts, or, at BirdNote.org. 

For BirdNote, I’m Monica Gokey.

                                                             ###
Senior Producer: John Kessler
Production Manager: Allison Wilson
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Editor: Ari Daniel
Producer: Monica Gokey
Field Recordings by Monica Gokey
BirdNote theme music composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler. 
© 2020 BirdNote   December 2020       Narrator: Monica Gokey

ID# LBCU-02-2020-12-01    LBCU-02