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Atlas Results

Long-billed Curlews were found in southwestern Saskatchewan in 194 atlas squares. Results of the mapping analyses highlight the Mixed Grass ecoregion as the heart of their current distribution in the province. In particular, the area around the South Saskatchewan River and the Great Sandhills, as well as the large tracts of native habitat along the border with the US around Grasslands National Park and the Govenlock, Nashlyn, and Battle Creek community pastures. In the Moist Mixed Grassland most observations were concentrated west of the Saskatoon area, and two observations were made in the western Aspen Parkland.

Excerpts Adapted from the Birds of Saskatchewan:

The plaintive cry of the Long-billed Curlew is as much a symbol of the primeval prairie as the yodel of the loon is of pristine boreal forest lakes. This species nests in the Great Basin north to south-central British Columbia, and in the western Great Plains from southern Alberta and Saskatchewan to central New Mexico. They winter from the southern US through Mexico to Costa Rica (AOU 1998).

Studies in southwestern Saskatchewan in 1999 and 2000 by Janna Foster-Willfong (2003) indicated that Long-Billed Curlew generally preferred native grassland and avoided areas of stubble, fallow, and tame hay. During the post-hatch periods, however, significantly more birds than expected were observed in cropland; this is believed primarily due to family groups wandering from nest sites in adjacent native grassland (Renaud 1980). In early spring and in August curlews may be seen around sloughs and other wetland habitats.

Fairly common but local in the western grasslands and parklands. Formerly extending east to the Quill Lakes and Wauchope the range of the Long-billed Curlew has contracted westward; occurrences east of Hanley, Birsay, Mortlach, and the Big Muddy Valley are now rare. Range contraction at its northern limits has not, however, been as significant and the species still occurs north to the Marsden and Biggar regions (Renaud 1980, Smith 1996).

Original text by Alan R. Smith. Text adapted by Daniel J. Sawatzky

Read more about the Long-billed Curlew in the Birds of Saskatchewan here.

LeeAnn M. Latremouille

Recommended citation: Latremouille, L. M. 2025. Long-billed Curlew in Latremouille, L. M., S. L. Van Wilgenburg, C. B. Jardine, D. Lepage, A. R. Couturier, D. Evans, D. Iles, and K. L. Drake (eds.). 2025. The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Saskatchewan, 2017-2021. Birds Canada. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan https://sk.birdatlas.ca/accounts/speciesaccount.jsp?sp=LBCU&lang=en [14 Nov 2025]