Numenius phaeopus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The Eurasian whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), historically known as the white-rumped whimbrel in North America, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across much of subarctic Palearctic region and Europe as far south as Scotland. This species and the Hudsonian whimbrel were split in 2019, although some taxonomic authorities still consider them to be conspecific.
The Eurasian whimbrel was formally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Scolopax phaeopus. It is now placed with the curlews in the genus Numenius that was introduced by Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760.
The genus name Numenius is from Ancient Greek noumenios, a bird mentioned by Hesychius. It is associated with the curlews because it appears to be derived from neos, "new" and mene, "moon", referring to the crescent-shaped bill. The specific epithet phaeopus is the Medieval Latin name for the bird, from Ancient Greek phaios, "dusky" and pous, "foot". The English name "whimbrel" is imitative of the bird's call.
Five subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Naha | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 3 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 4 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 5 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 6 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 7 | Manama | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | |
| 8 | Abu Dhabi | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | |
| 9 | Maputo | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 10 | Rabat | 🇲🇦 Morocco |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Whimbrel sighting in Table Mountain National Park on a given day, based on 204 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 126th most-seen of the 223 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Whimbrel in Table Mountain National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February and April–December, the lowest months. Those are among Table Mountain National Park's driest months, with about 25 mm of rain a month against 110 mm in June.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Whimbrel sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
49th of 70
Of the 70 parks where we can rate Whimbrel sightings, Table Mountain National Park ranks 49th at under 5%. The best odds are in Isla del Coco National Park (Costa Rica, about 80%), Sundarbans National Park (India, about 70%) and West Coast National Park (South Africa, about 70%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Whimbrel is recorded against all the birds logged in Table Mountain National Park (204 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
