Eskimo Curlew: Migration Interrupted
Once darkening skies during migration, the Eskimo Curlew fell victim to market hunting in the late 1800s and early 1900s. These shorebirds made extraordinary journeys between Arctic breeding grounds and South American wintering areas. Grassland conversion to farmland destroyed critical feeding habitat. The last confirmed sighting came in 1963 in Texas. Their distinctive downward-curved bills and mottled plumage exist now only in museum collections.