A large wading bird with a long curved bill, found in coastal and wetland areas across Europe and Asia.
From Middle French corlieu, possibly from Old French cour (court) + lieu (place), though this etymology is uncertain. The curved bill may have inspired the name's shape.
The curlew's distinctive call sounds exactly like its name—'cur-loo!'—so it's a perfect example of onomatopoeia in bird names. But it's declining rapidly across Europe; hearing a curlew's haunting cry is becoming rare, and ornithologists are now urgently trying to save the species.
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