Rising Tide Images
Kioea Crouch
The bristle-thighed curlew is considered indigenous, though uncommon, in Hawaii where it is known as kioea. It has a beautiful, distinctively long, decurved bill used to forage in tall grass, mud, sand, and reef flats exposed at low tide. The namesake bristle-like feathers around the thighs are the field mark that differentiates it from the similar looking whimbrel. An annual trans-Pacific migrant summer nesting in western Alaska and eastern Siberia, it travels thousands of non-stop miles over the Pacific to spend the rest of the year on oceanic islands, from Hawaii to French Polynesian. ICARUS satellite tracking indicates some of the Lagon Bleu, Rangiroa cohort selects the Hawaiian archipelago as a mid-migration rest stop and possibly a non-nesting destination. The entire worldwide population was estimated to be 10,000 individuals in 2003. Extrapolating recent counts in Tuamotu indicates the population may have declined to 5,000 birds.
Kioea Crouch
The bristle-thighed curlew is considered indigenous, though uncommon, in Hawaii where it is known as kioea. It has a beautiful, distinctively long, decurved bill used to forage in tall grass, mud, sand, and reef flats exposed at low tide. The namesake bristle-like feathers around the thighs are the field mark that differentiates it from the similar looking whimbrel. An annual trans-Pacific migrant summer nesting in western Alaska and eastern Siberia, it travels thousands of non-stop miles over the Pacific to spend the rest of the year on oceanic islands, from Hawaii to French Polynesian. ICARUS satellite tracking indicates some of the Lagon Bleu, Rangiroa cohort selects the Hawaiian archipelago as a mid-migration rest stop and possibly a non-nesting destination. The entire worldwide population was estimated to be 10,000 individuals in 2003. Extrapolating recent counts in Tuamotu indicates the population may have declined to 5,000 birds.