Long-billed Curlews Whistle from the Sky

BirdNote^®
Long-billed Curlews Whistle From The Sky
Adapated from a script by Dennis Paulson

This is BirdNote.

          [Display song of a Long-billed Curlew]

Every spring, in the grasslands that remain in the Great Basin and Great Plains, you may be treated to the flight display of the Long-billed Curlew, accompanied by its bubbling song. The male flies up with rapidly beating wings and glides down, then up again and down, stitching a series of arcs across the sky and calling as he goes.

          [Display song of a Long-billed Curlew]

Long-billed Curlews are the largest of North American shorebirds. They winter on mudflats along the coasts of Mexico and the southern US where they extract small crabs from their burrows for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Like most shorebirds, they roost and forage in flocks, often with other species. When they are disturbed, their loud flight calls sound the alarm that a potential predator is near.

          [Flight calls of a Long-billed Curlew]

But when the birds arrive on their breeding grounds on the prairies, their hormones put them in a different mood. It’s time to leave the flock — to display, sing, mate, and nest. And their whistles can be heard again, dropping from the sky.

          [Display song of a Long-billed Curlew]

For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.

This episode is brought to you in loving memory of former BirdNote Board member Tom Darden, with thanks to his family for their support.

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Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Ariana Remmel
Content Director: Jonese Franklin

Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Long-billed Curlew ML145415051 recorded by Paul Marvin. Long-billed Curlew ML105700 recorded by Geoffrey A. Keller.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2025 BirdNote      May 2009 / August 2025
Narrator: Michael Stein

ID# LBCU-01c-2025-08-26     LBCU-01c