The Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris) was a bird with light plumage and a long, thin curved bill. Once widespread in the wetlands of Europe and Central Asia, this highly migratory bird nested in Siberia and Finland before wintering on the Mediterranean coasts. The most recent indisputable observation dates back to 1995 in Morocco. The last report in France was made by Michel Brosselin, former secretary general of the LPO, on February 15, 1968 in Aiguillon Bay (Vendée).
Despite intensive searches to locate possible survivors, a scientific study published on November 17, 2024 in the ornithology journal IBIS estimates a 96% probability that the species is now extinct. The population declined rapidly in the 20th century due to habitat loss caused by intensive agriculture and drainage of wetlands. Its American cousin, the Eskimo Curlew (Boreal deity), has not been seen since 1987. Of the 9 species of curlew described in the world, two have therefore ceased to exist in less than 40 years. After intense advocacy from the LPO, France suspended Eurasian Curlew hunting in 2020 (The deity bowed), whose European numbers have fallen by almost half since 1980.
The disappearance of the Slender-billed Curlew constitutes the first official extinction of a continental bird species in the Western Palearctic area, which covers Europe, North Africa and part of Asia. This fact is particularly worrying because if more than 150 species of birds (out of approximately 11,000) have disappeared from the planet since 1500 according to the IUCN, the majority concerned endemic birds weakened by insularity like the Canary Oystercatcher (Haematopus meadewaldoi) and the infamous Dodo of Mauritius (hooded toad) or species decimated by hunting such as the Great Auk (The penguin is busy) and the Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius).
It is crucial to understand the importance of the alarm signal represented by the extinction of the Slender-billed Curlew, because it could usher in a long series of macabre events if we do not act. Once common animals such as sparrows, swallows and hedgehogs are now seeing their populations collapse. Last month, the Biodiversity COP only gave rise to soporific discussions, we urgently need to wake up!
Allain Bougrain Dubourg
President of the LPO
France
World
