Species

Justification
This species has a very large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be stable, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is very large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of _the_WP15.xls.
AOU. 1998. Check-list of North American birds. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.
Christidis, L.; Boles, W. E. 1994. The taxonomy and species of birds of Australia and its territories. Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union, Melbourne.
Christidis, L.; Boles, W. E. 2008. Systematics and taxonomy of Australian birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
Cramp, S.; Perrins, C. M. 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Dowsett, R. J.; Forbes-Watson, A. D. 1993. Checklist of birds of the Afrotropical and Malagasy regions. Tauraco Press, Li
Sibley, C. G.; Monroe, B. L. 1990. Distribution and taxonomy of birds of the world. Yale University Press, New Haven, USA.
Turbott, E. G. 1990. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand. Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Wellington.

Population justification
The global population is estimated to number > c.180,000 individuals (Wetlands International 2006), while the population in Russia has been estimated at c.100-100,000 breeding pairs and c.50-10,000 individuals on migration (Brazil 2009).

Trend justification
Although Wetlands International consider the current population trend to be unknown, it is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats (del Hoyo et al. 1996).

Ecology
Behaviour This species is strongly migratory, travelling from mid-August to October along the coast of eastern Asia on a narrow front with few stop-overs (del Hoyo et al. 1996). On its wintering grounds in Australia the species also makes erratic movements in relation to ranifall (del Hoyo et al. 1996). It breeds from late-May to early-August in loose colonies (del Hoyo et al. 1996) of 3-30 pairs (Labutin et al. 1982) and migrates in flocks of up to 1,000 individuals (del Hoyo et al. 1996). During the non-breeding season it occurs in dense flocks of several hundreds or thousands of individuals and gathers in large flocks to roost during the warmest part of the day and at night (del Hoyo et al. 1996). Habitat Breeding The species breeds in secondary vegetation growth in open burnt areas or in grassy clearings in northern montane larch Larix spp. or dwarf birch woodland, chiefly along river valleys (Hayman et al. 1986, del Hoyo et al. 1996) or on well-drained (Labutin et al. 1982) southward-facing mountain slopes (Flint et al. 1984). Non-breeding On passage the species shows a preference for foraging and resting in swampy meadows near lakes and along river valleys (Flint et al. 1984). It overwinters on dry inland grassland, bare cultivation (del Hoyo et al. 1996), dry mudflats and coastal plains of black soil (Johnsgard 1981) with scattered shallow pools of freshwater (Higgins and Davies 1996), swamps, lakes or flooded ground (del Hoyo et al. 1996). It shows a preference for short grass swards of less than 20 cm tall, and occasionally occurs in dry saltmarshes, coastal swamps, mudflats or sandflats in estuaries, or on the beaches of sheltered coasts (Higgins and Davies 1996). Diet Its diet consists predominantly of adult and larval insects (del Hoyo et al. 1996) (e.g. grasshoppers, crickets, weevils, beetles, caterpillars, ants (del Hoyo et al. 1996) and termites (Bellio et al. 2006)) and spiders as well as vegetable matter including seeds, rice husks and berries (del Hoyo et al. 1996). Breeding site The nest is a shallow depression located on open ground (del Hoyo et al. 1996) in open burnt areas or grassy clearings in larch Larix spp. or dwarf birch woodland, chiefly along river valleys (Hayman et al. 1986, del Hoyo et al. 1996). The species nests in loose colonies (del Hoyo et al. 1996) with neighbouring nests spaced between 200 and 300 m apart within a radius of 1 km (Labutin et al. 1982).

Threats
Important migratory stop-over sites for this species in northern Australia are being degraded through colonisation by invasive plants (e.g. Mimosa pigra, Hymenachne amplexicaulis and para grass Brachiaria mutica), saltwater intrusion as a result of rising sea-levels, and damage from feral pigs and buffalo (Bellio et al. 2006). The habitats of this species are also potentially threatened by agricultural intensification and pesticide contamination (del Hoyo et al. 1996).

References
Flint, V. E.; Boehme, R. L.; Kostin, Y. V.; Kuznetsov, A. A. 1984. A field guide to birds of the USSR. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.

Johnsgard, P. A. 1981. The plovers, sandpipers and snipes of the world. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, U.S.A. and London.

Labutin, Y. V.; Leonovitch, V. V.; Veprintsev, B. N. 1982. The Little Curlew Numenius minutus in Siberia. Ibis 124(3): 302-319.

Hayman, P.; Marchant, J.; Prater, A. J. 1986. Shorebirds. Croom Helm, London.

Higgins, P. J.; Davies, S. J. J. F. 1996. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic birds vol 3: snipe to pigeons. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. 1996. Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 3: Hoatzin to Auks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.

Bellio, M. G.; Bayliss, P.; Morton, S.; Chatto, R. 2006. Status and conservation of the Little Curlew Numenius minutus on its over-wintering grounds in Australia. In: Boere, G.; Galbraith, C., Stroud, D. (ed.), Waterbirds around the world, pp. 346-348. The Stationary Office, Edinburgh, UK.

Delany, S.; Scott, D. 2006. Waterbird population estimates. Wetlands International, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Brazil, M. 2009. Birds of East Asia: eastern China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, eastern Russia. Christopher Helm, London.

Further web sources of information
View photos and videos, and hear sounds of this species from the Internet Bird Collection

Text account compilers
Butchart, S., Ekstrom, J., Malpas, L.

IUCN Red List evaluators
Butchart, S., Symes, A.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2013) Species factsheet: Numenius minutus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/08/2013. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2013) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/08/2013.

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

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Additional resources for this species

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