The Eurasian whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) English name is imitative of the bird's call. It is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across much of subarctic Asia and Europe as far south as Scotland. Numenius, the genus assigned to Whimbrel, means “new moon” in Greek, a reference to the bird’s bill shape, which resembles a crescent moon.The whimbrel is smaller than a curlew, has a shorter, decurved bill and has a central crown stripe and strong supercilia. This species and the Hudsonian whimbrel have recently been split, although some taxonomic authorities still consider them to be conspecific.
