Bristle-thighed Curlew
Bristle curlew (Numenius tahitiensis )
The bristle curlew (Numenius tahitiensis ) is a monotypic genus of bird from the curlews and one of the three endemic species of birds of Alaska. The population is estimated at around 7000 animals.
Description
This bird has a head-body length of 40-44 inches. Approximately seven to nine inches is accounted for by the beak. The wingspan is 80 to 90 centimeters. The weight ranges from 350 up 550 grams.
As with other curlews, the females are slightly larger and have a longer beak. The typical down-turned beak summer has a pink base and a dark tip. In winter, the whole beak is dark. In all plumage places the animal has gray legs, a light beige base and a bright tail with dark cross bands. The upper plumage sections are dark brown with shades of gray and sand colored dots. A dark eye line that sets it apart from its bright environment. The underside of the wings is more reddish brown and the top gray blue.
Proliferation and migration
The bristle curlew breeds in the tundra of Alaska near the mouth of the River Yukon River and on the Seward Peninsula. It is a migratory bird that flies in the autumn over Japan to the tropical islands of Oceania such as Hawaii, Tonga, Fiji or French Polynesia. He flies at least 4000 km non-stop, and sometimes up to 6000 km.
Behavior
The bristle curlew has a very unusual for curlews food spectrum. They eat like all curlews insects, spiders, as well as fruits and even flowers. But you eat next to lizards, small mammals and even carrion and also take the eggs of sea birds, which they occasionally wegpicken even among breeding birds. Usually break bristle curlews on the shell by letting the eggs fall to the ground. Bristle curlews were also at it observed that they dropped stones on the eggs.
The nests, in which the greenish eggs are laid with brown spots, are in low lying areas and are lined with moss. When the chicks are about five weeks old pull the adults to the south and let the pups back until they have enough food was added to pull itself into winter quarters. The juveniles then remain before coming up to three years in winter quarters back to Alaska. Studies have shown that up to 50 percent of the bristle curlews lose their ability to fly at the Mauser in Hawaii, which distinguishes them from all other Regenpfeiferartigen.
History
The first bristle Curlew in 1769 trapped under James Cook's first voyage to Tahiti. This fact also is the scientific name of the animal. About the breeding areas it was then over 150 years in the dark, until one June 12, 1948 Bird's nest in the mountains that surround the lower reaches of the Yukon found.