The Druridge Bay curlew - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Druridge Bay curlew was a curlew

Curlew

The curlews , genus Numenius, are a group of eight species of birds, characterised by long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. They are one of the most ancient lineages of scolopacid waders, together with the godwits which look similar but have straight bills...

which was present in Druridge Bay

Druridge Bay

Druridge Bay is a long coastal bay in Northumberland, England, stretching from Amble in the north to Cresswell in the south.Northumberland Coast Country Park is situated within the bay, and part of the bay is owned by the National Trust...

, Northumberland

Northumberland

Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

in May 1998, whose species identification proved to be controversial. The bird was identified by its finder, and most others who saw it, as a first-summer Slender-billed Curlew

Slender-billed Curlew

The Slender-billed Curlew, Numenius tenuirostris, is a bird in the wader family Scolopacidae. It breeds in marshes and peat bogs in the taiga of Siberia, and is migratory, formerly wintering in shallow freshwater habitats around the Mediterranean...

, one of the rarest birds in the world; however, this identification provoked scepticism from some quarters. The bird was accepted as this species (and therefore became the first record of Slender-billed Curlew in Britain) by the British Birds Rarities Committee

British Birds Rarities Committee

The British Birds Rarities Committee , established in 1959, is the national bird rarities committee for Britain. It assesses claimed sightings of bird species that are rarely seen in Britain, based on descriptions, photographs and video recordings submitted by observers...

and the British Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee

British Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee

The British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee is the recognised national bird records committee for Britain. It maintains a list of birds of Britain...

.

Opinions on the exact identity of the bird remain divided — the conclusion arrived at by BBRC and BOURC is shared by a significant majority of the British birding community, but a number of British birders are not convinced that the bird was a Slender-billed Curlew, including several high-profile figures. A first-winter curlew at Minsmere

Minsmere

Minsmere is a hamlet on the Suffolk coast a couple of miles south of Dunwich, within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB.Ranulf de Glanvill built an abbey on the marshes here in the 12th century, but this was abandoned in favour of Leiston Abbey in 1363...

, Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

in October 2004 re-opened the debate on the identity of the Druridge bird.

Discovery

The bird in question was found by an unknown birdwatcher on Monday, May 4, 1998, and was first identified as a Whimbrel

Whimbrel

The Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the mostwidespread of the curlews, breeding across much of subarctic North America, Europe and Asia as far south as Scotland....

. The birder reported the Whimbrel to Tim Cleeves who, uncertain of the bird's identification, contacted a number of other birdwatchers from the Northumberland and Tyneside areas and asked them to come to Druridge to give an opinion. The bird was watched by six observers until 20.50 hours that evening.

News of the bird was broadcast on the national rare bird information services. As, at this stage, there was not a consensus on the identity of the bird, some of the services used cautious language, e.g. Birdline referred to the bird as a "controversial curlew thought by some observers to be a Slender-billed". Because of the uncertainty over the identity, some birders chose not to travel to see it, although many others did. The bird was last seen on Thursday May 7. It was photographed (albeit distantly) and three separate video-recordings were made.

Although the identification of this bird is generally credited to Tim Cleeves, Brett Richards (Birdwatch 118:11) has claimed that a large part of the credit for the record should rest with him, due to his role in persuading others to travel to see the bird. One should note Richards' prominence in identifying the bird compared to others who were apparently as adamant but somewhat less vocal, if not silent, in their views.

Comparison to Eurasian Curlew

The bird was close in appearance to Eurasian Curlew

Eurasian Curlew

The Eurasian Curlew, Numenius arquata, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across temperate Europe and Asia...

, but differed in a number of features:

in size, it was closer to a Whimbrel than to a typical Eurasian Curlew
it also differed slightly in structure, being slimmer, and in particular thinner-necked and shorter-legged than a typical Eurasian Curlew
its bill was shorter than is typical for Eurasian Curlew, and straight for the first half of its length, rather than evenly curved; the bill was also thin and narrow in both depth and width
the bird's flanks were clean white, patterned with rows of oval black spots, and lacked any transverse barring or anchor-shaped marks
it had a very white-looking tail, with narrow greyish bars
its underwings were white and unmarked

One other point of note is that the bird's upperwing-coverts were worn, and they had a silvery appearance, contrasting with its scapular feathers which were very dark.

Debate

Public discussion of the bird first surfaced on May 6, on the UKBirdnet mailing list, which at that time was the main internet discussion forum for British birders. Early postings from Phil Hansbro (based on a conversation with Brett Richards, who had been to see the bird) and from Ian Broadbent made a strong case for the identification as Slender-billed Curlew. Other observers raised questions, with three aspects causing concern:

the global rarity of the species and the likelihood of its occurrence in Britain
the fact that it showed a quite different appearance from the well-watched Slender-billed Curlews at Merja Zerga
Merja Zerga
Merja Zerga or Lagune de Moulay Bou Selham is a tidal lagoon on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, 70 kilometers north of the city of Kenitra. Classified as a Permanent Biological Reserve in 1978, it is managed by several government agencies....

in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

in the late 1980s/early 1990s, and
whether all possible alternative identifications (e.g. an aberrant Eurasian Curlew or a hybrid) had been ruled out.

In mid-June, Birding World
Birding World
Birding World is a monthly birding magazine published in the United Kingdom. It is the magazine of the Bird Information Service, based at Cley next the Sea, Norfolk....

published an account of the bird, written by Tim Cleeves, his first public statement on the bird. The article dealt in detail with the circumstances of the bird's finding, its appearance, his reasons for making a confident identification of the bird as a Slender-billed Curlew, ageing and sexing of Slender-billed Curlews, their conservation status and likelihood of vagrancy. The article was accompanied by an editorial comment endorsing Cleeves's views. Cleeves also wrote a short account for the July edition of Birdwatch
Birdwatch (magazine)
Birdwatch is a British monthly magazine for birdwatchers, established in 1992 by Solo Publishing. Distributed by subscription and also through newsagents, it has a cover price of £4.10...

magazine.

These two articles prompted letters from Chris Heard outlining reasons why he believed that the case for identification of the bird as a Slender-billed Curlew was not proven. In his letter to Birding World, Heard made comparisons with the Merja Zerga birds, which he had seen, and listed the following concerns:

that the bill, while short and slim, was not correctly-shaped, being too straight, and that short-billed Eurasian Curlews do exist
that the Druridge curlew's head was not small and rounded, while its back was too rounded
that the bird lacked a well-marked supercilium
Supercilium
The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head. Also known as an "eyebrow", it is distinct from the eyestripe, which is a line which runs...

, and did not show the dark-capped appearance typical of Slender-billed Curlew, and
that the bird did not show an eye-ring.

An editorial comment was published in reply to this letter, which included comments made by a number of the observers involved with the Druridge bird. A letter to Birdwatch from Chris Heard outlined the same concerns, and pointed out also that Eurasian Curlew can show spotted flank patterning and white underwings. This letter drew a response from Brett Richards.

The editorial comment in Birding World (to which Brett Richards contributed), and Richards' letter in Birdwatch, responded to Chris Heard's concerns by making the following points:

that Slender-billed Curlew's bill shape is likely to vary, as does that of Eurasian Curlew and Whimbrel
that the Druridge bird's head-shape did appear at times to be correct
that the back shape of Slender-billed Curlew varies depending on what the bird is doing, and so did that of the Druridge bird
that first-summer Slender-billed Curlews may not have eye-rings, or that the strength of this feature may vary between individuals, and that in fact the Druridge bird did have an eye-ring, albeit not as prominent as the Merja Zerga birds.

BBRC/BOURC acceptance

The bird was accepted as the first record of Slender-billed Curlew for Britain by the British Ornithologists Union Records Committee and this was announced in a joint BBRC/BOURC press release on 24 January 2002.

This was followed by the publication in British Birds
British Birds (magazine)
British Birds is a monthly ornithology magazine that was established in 1907. It is now published by BB 2000 Ltd, which is wholly owned by The British Birds Charitable Trust , established for the benefit of British ornithology...

of an account by Tim Cleeves of the finding of the bird, and a summary of the BBRC analysis of submitted descriptions, photographs and video footage, written by Jimmy Steele and Didier Vangeluwe.

The August 2002 Druridge bird

On August 9 and August 10, 2002, and possibly for a few days prior to that, another bird showing characteristics of Slender-billed Curlew was reported from Druridge Bay. This bird was described as being 25% smaller than Eurasian Curlew with a slender bill tapering to a narrow point, with black spotting on its flanks, and unmarked white underwings. This bird was not photographed, and only seen by a small number of observers, and no formal submission was made to the Rarities Committee.

The Minsmere curlew

In October 2004, another bird showing some characteristics consistent with Slender-billed Curlew, was found, this time at RSPB Minsmere

RSPB Minsmere

Minsmere RSPB reserve is a nature reserve owned and run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Suffolk, England. It lies on the Suffolk coast to the south of Southwold and north of Aldeburgh within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Suffolk...

in Suffolk

Suffolk

. This bird generated considerable debate, with some observers, including Didier Vangeluwe, who had travelled from Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

to see the bird, stating that they believed it to be a Slender-billed Curlew. However, by the time this bird was last seen, most observers had formed the opinion that this bird was a first-winter Eurasian Curlew.

The discussion about this bird's identity reopened the debate about the Druridge bird.

External links

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