What is "curlew sandpiper"

Curlew \Cur"lew\ (k[^u]r"l[=u]), n. [F. courlieu, corlieu, courlis; perh. of imitative origin, but cf. OF. corlieus courier; L. currere to run + levis light.] (Zo["o]l.) A wading bird of the genus Numenius, remarkable for its long, slender, curved bill.

Note: The common European curlew is Numenius arquatus. The long-billed ( Numenius longirostris), the Hudsonian ( Numenius Hudsonicus), and the Eskimo curlew ( Numenius borealis, are American species. The name is said to imitate the note of the European species.

Curlew Jack (Zo["o]l.) the whimbrel or lesser curlew.

Curlew sandpiper (Zo["o]l.), a sandpiper ( Tringa ferruginea or Tringa subarquata), common in Europe, rare in America, resembling a curlew in having a long, curved bill. See Illustation in Appendix.

Sandpiper \Sand"pi`per\, n.

1. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of small limicoline game birds belonging to Tringa, Actodromas, Ereunetes, and various allied genera of the family Tringid[ae].

   Note: The most important North American species are the pectoral sandpiper ( Tringa maculata), called also brownback, grass snipe, and jacksnipe; the red-backed, or black-breasted, sandpiper, or dunlin ( T. alpina); the purple sandpiper ( T. maritima: the red-breasted sandpiper, or knot ( T. canutus); the semipalmated sandpiper ( Ereunetes pusillus); the spotted sandpiper, or teeter-tail ( Actitis macularia); the buff-breasted sandpiper ( Tryngites subruficollis), and the Bartramian sandpiper, or upland plover. See under Upland. Among the European species are the dunlin, the knot, the ruff, the sanderling, and the common sandpiper ( Actitis hypoleucus syn. Tringoides hypoleucus), called also fiddler, peeper, pleeps, weet-weet, and summer snipe. Some of the small plovers and tattlers are also called sandpipers.

2. (Zo["o]l.) A small lamprey eel; the pride.

   Curlew sandpiper. See under Curlew.

   Stilt sandpiper. See under Stilt.

n. A type of sandpiper, ''Calidris ferruginea''.

n. Old World sandpiper with a curved bill like a curlew [syn: Calidris Ferruginea]

The curlew sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) is a small wader that breeds on the tundra of Arctic Siberia. The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ferruginea is from Latin ferrugo, ferruginis, "iron rust" referring to its colour in breeding plumage.

It is strongly migratory, wintering mainly in Africa, but also in south and southeast Asia and in Australasia. It is a vagrant to North America.