Distribution

Breeding Range

Holarctic. Two disjunct areas at high latitudes in North America (Fig. 1). Western population breeds from coastal Alaska (Cape Peirce; Petersen et al. 1991) across Yukon Territory to nw. District of Mackenzie (no records from Hornaday River east to Bluenose Lake; E. Seale pers. comm.) and south to s.-central Alaska (Talkeetna Mtns.) and sw. Yukon Territory. Eastern population breeds west and south of Hudson Bay, from s. District of Keewatin (Chesterfield Inlet), ne. Manitoba, and n. Ontario to James Bay (Lake River; Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959, Godfrey 1986); no records in Wager Bay, east of Queen Maud Gulf, or Thelon River areas (E. Seale pers. comm.). Recorded in summer, but not before late Jun, on Banks and Southampton islands (Manning et al. 1956, Abraham and Ankney 1986). More information needed on breeding distribution.

Nonbreeders summer sporadically in small numbers along Atlantic Coast of U.S. (from S. Carolina south), West Indies, and Central America (to Suriname); along Pacific Coast from British Columbia to s. Chile and Falkland Is. (Barruel 1968, Am. Ornithol. Union 1983, Woods 1988, Campbell et al. 1990).

Winter Range

On Pacific Coast, irregular in small numbers from s. Vancouver I. and larger coastal estuaries in Oregon to n. California; more regular from San Francisco Bay, CA, south to Baja California (both coasts; Root 1988, Paulson 1993). Also inland at Salton Sea, CA. Fairly common along coast and offshore islands (including Galapagos Is.) from Mexico south to Magallanes, Chile (Harris 1974); especially abundant around Chiloé I., Chile (25% of total South American population; Morrison and Ross 1989a, b); rare in puna of Peru (Parker et al. 1982). On Atlantic Coast, uncommon from S. Carolina to Florida. On Gulf Coast, recorded on Christmas Bird Counts from Florida to Texas; infrequent from Galveston Bay, TX, to Veracruz, Mexico (less common than along corresponding Pacific Coast; Root 1988, Howell and Webb 1995); infrequent on Yucatán Peninsula (Howell and Webb 1995); infrequent to rare in West Indies (Bond 1961). Recorded as regular winter resident in Jamaica (Downer and Sutton 1990). Regular in Bermuda (including some individuals of European subspecies [N. p. phaeopus]; Amos 1991). Common from Colombia to Bahía, Brazil, including Netherlands Antilles, Trinidad, and Tobago (ffrench 1973); occurs inland along Orinoco River, Venezuela (Meyer de Schauensee and Phelps 1978); especially abundant along coast of Suriname and n.-central coast of Brazil (13 and 44%, respectively, of total South American population; Morrison and Ross 1989a, b). Infrequent from Rio Grande do Sul, s. Brazil, to Rio Negro, Argentina, and on Tierra del Fuego (Canevari et al. 1991). Regular on Falkland Is. (Woods 1988).

N. p. hudsonicus and Eurasian races casual in Hawaii in fall, winter, and spring; N. p. hudsonicus not recorded in Jun or Jul (R. Pyle pers. comm.). In Eurasia, other races breed from Iceland and Scotland across Scandinavia and n. and central Russia to ne. Siberia south to s. Russia; winter along coastal Africa, Indian Ocean, and se. Asia to Australasia (Cramp and Simmons 1983). N. p. hudsonicus casual in Greenland and w. Europe; and casual wintering (N. p. hudsonicus) in Sierra Leone, New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand (Hayman et al. 1986).

Possibly more abundant after 1920 than prior to late 1880s owing to heavy market hunting of shorebirds in late 1800s (Bent 1929). Western breeding area appears to have expanded eastward since mid-1800s. Whimbrels found to be abundant in 1860s by R. R. MacFarlane on Anderson River Delta, Northwest Territories (NWT), but not recorded 183 km upstream at Ft. Anderson overland to Franklin Bay, NWT; in 1980s, abundant on Anderson River Delta and found to be common by T. W. Barry on same overland route to Franklin Bay (Gollop et al. 1986).

Genus Numenius is first represented in fossil record in Middle Miocene, 15–20 million yr before present (Brodkorb 1967).