Back in October 2021 we were approached by Sydney Olympic Park in Australia, after seeing Curlew Country’s origami Curlew video they wanted to create their own video and worksheet based on our design for world migratory bird week. At Curlew Country we love knowing that we can inspire people from all across the world, to care more about our wonderful Curlews, so of course we said yes!
“Numenius madagascariensis” by dhobern is licensed under CC BY 2.0
There are actually 8 different species of Curlew found across the world, however two of these species are possibly already extinct – the Eskimo and Slender-billed Curlews. Of the remaining 6 species, the Far-eastern Curlew is listed as endangered, the Bristle-thighed Curlew as vulnerable and the Eurasian Curlew (that’s the one we see here in the UK) as near threatened.
Whilst we continue our work here to help the reverse the decline of the Eurasian Curlew, it’s fantastic to know Sydney Olympic Park are raising awareness of the plight of Curlew in Australia as well. Numbers of the Far-eastern Curlew in Australia have dropped by 80% over the past 30 years, leaving their future looking very uncertain. Education and raising awareness of these and other migratory birds is an important step in making changes to protect them in the future.
You can take a look at the video here or download the worksheet to try here (scroll down until you see Migratory Birds!).