Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus

Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus. Photograph taken in the coastal area of Yavaros, Sonora, December 2017. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus. Photograph taken with the rocky shoreline of the greater Bahía de los Ángeles area, Baja California, February 2022.  Photograph  courtesy of George Flicker, Bahía de los Ángeles. Identification courtesy of Mary & George Flicker, Bahía de los Ángeles.

Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus. Photographs taken in the greater Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos area, Baja California Sur, March 2017. Identification courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah.

Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus. Photographs taken in the greater Zihuatanejo area, Guerrero, March 2018. Photographs courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuatanejo.

The Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus hudsonicus, is one of five subspecies of Whimbrel, and the only one found in Mexico, and is a member of the Scolopacidae Family of Sandpipers and Allies. There are eight global members of the Numenius Genus. They are known in Mexico as player pico curvo and player picocorvo.

The Whimbrel is a mid-sized curlew. The sexes are similar in appearance and the plumages are maintained year-round. The females are slightly larger than the males. They have a brown lower back and rump variably marked with pale buff, pale buff underparts and their neck and breast streaked with dark brown. Their head has a fuscous forehead with a pale buff median stripe, a prominent pale buff eyebrow stripe, a dark eye stripe and a dull white chin and upper throat. The tail is barred. Their bill is large, long, slender and decurved over the distal two thirds and dusky brown in in color, their iris is dark brown, their legs and feet are dull gray to lead gray tinged with and olive green.

The Whimbrel is a winter visitor to Mexico that is found within coastal wetlands, saltmarshes, tidal flats, exposed reefs, beaches and mangrove swamps. They make long-distance migrations wintering along the coastal regions of North and South America and their breeding grounds in the Artic. They make long range migrations of up to 4,000 km to wintering grounds along the coastal regions of southern North America and South America in flocks of up to 1,000 individuals. They have a broad diet with their main wintertime foods being marine invertebrates including crabs, marine worms, and mollusks supplemented by small amounts of fish. Seasonally, while north, they will consume berries, flowers and insects. They have life spans of up to 15 years.

The Whimberel is similar to and can be confused with the Long-billed Curlew, Numerius americanus (larger in stature, lacks the distinctive dark crown and eye-stripe).

In Mexico the Whimbrel is a wintering shore bid that is found within all coastal regions of both the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts during the winter months.

From a conservation perspective the Whimbrel is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. There long-time viability is threatened by climate change that has had a serious impact on their breeding habitat by facilitating shrub and tree encroachment and the spread of alien plant species and by human development. They date to the Middle Miocene, 15 to 20 million years ago.