Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus): a technical Conservation Assessment Prepared for the usda forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region, Species Conservation Project December 12, 2006 James A. Sedgwick

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..............................................................................................................................................2

AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................................................2

COVER PHOTO CREDIT .............................................................................................................................................2

SUMMARY OF KEY COMPONENTS FOR CONSERVATION OF LONG-BILLED CURLEW..............................3

Status..........................................................................................................................................................................3

Primary Threats..........................................................................................................................................................3

Primary Conservation Elements, Management Implications and Considerations.....................................................3

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ...............................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................................................7

Goal............................................................................................................................................................................7

Scope..........................................................................................................................................................................8

Treatment of Uncertainty ...........................................................................................................................................8

Publication of Assessment on the World Wide Web ..................................................................................................8

Peer Review ...............................................................................................................................................................8

MANAGEMENT STATUS AND NATURAL HISTORY .............................................................................................8

Management Status ....................................................................................................................................................8

Existing Regulatory Mechanisms, Management Plans, and Conservation Strategies...............................................9

Laws, regulations, and management direction......................................................................................................9

Enforcement of existing laws and regulations ....................................................................................................10

Biology and Ecology................................................................................................................................................10

Systematics and species description....................................................................................................................10

Distribution and abundance.................................................................................................................................11

Population trend ..................................................................................................................................................13

Activity pattern....................................................................................................................................................13

Habitat .................................................................................................................................................................16

Habitat associations........................................................................................................................................16

Microhabitat ...................................................................................................................................................17

Territoriality....................................................................................................................................................18

Spatial patterns, landscape mosaic, juxtaposition of habitats.........................................................................18

Habitat change and causes..............................................................................................................................18

Habitat availability relative to occupied habitat.............................................................................................18

Food habits ..........................................................................................................................................................18

Breeding biology.................................................................................................................................................19

Phenology of courtship and breeding.............................................................................................................19

Courtship and breeding behavior....................................................................................................................19

Site and mate fidelity......................................................................................................................................22

Demography........................................................................................................................................................22

Genetic issues .................................................................................................................................................22

Recruitment, survival, immigration, age at reproduction...............................................................................22

Ecological influences on survival and reproduction.......................................................................................23

Spacing, defense and size of area, and population regulation........................................................................23

Dispersal.........................................................................................................................................................24

Source/sink, demographically linked populations..........................................................................................24

Factors limiting population growth ................................................................................................................24

Life cycle graph and model development ......................................................................................................25

Sensitivity analysis .........................................................................................................................................25

Elasticity analysis ...........................................................................................................................................26

Other demographic parameters.......................................................................................................................27

Stochastic model.............................................................................................................................................27

Potential refinements of the models ...............................................................................................................29

Community ecology ............................................................................................................................................29

Predators and habitat use................................................................................................................................29

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