Wildlife: Whimbrel Watching at The Okukubi River in Okinawa

This series of photos was taken along the Okukubi River in Okinawa, Japan.

The Whimbrel goes by the scientific name, Numenius phaeopus.

The reason we're whimbrel watching today is the cherry blossoms aren't ready for flower watching, yet.  

So, I dug up some birds for you instead.

It's always fun doing wildlife research.  You'd be surprised at the things you can learn.

Like, these birds, also known as Curlews, breed in subarctic areas of North America, Europe, Asia and, even Scotland but, they winter in warmer places, like Okinawa.

That long nose, they have hanging off their face is used for probing.

They may be seen along the shores of rivers searching for invertebrates in the sand.

Little sand crabs are fair game whether they try to hide among rocks in the water. or along the shore.

Whenever I reasearch wildlife, I like to check to see if the critter I have photos of, is an endangered species.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the best place to go for this kind of information.  They know what species are endangered, all around the world.

Today, I took my whimbrel watching photos and did some up-to-date-research and I discovered that the Numenius phaeopus is on the

IUCN RED LIST OF THREATENED SPECIES

LISTED AS LEAST CONCERN (LC)

GUESS WHAT, PEOPLE ?
 

You ain 't gonna believe me so, I'll give you the link.

HUMANS ARE ON THAT LIST, TOO !