Extinction of the Slender-billed Curlew is a heartbreaking wake-up call
What experts had believed for many years has sadly been confirmed. There are no more Slender-billed Curlews left on Earth.
The last confirmed sighting of this wonderful migratory waterbird was in Morocco in 1995. Thirty years later, it was officially declared Extinct by the IUCN Red List during the World Conservation Congress – the first-ever recorded global bird extinction from mainland Europe, North Africa, and West Asia.
“This heartbreaking loss is another deafening wake up call. We must urgently accelerate efforts to save the world’s migratory waterbirds and the wetlands they depend on before more species join the lengthening list of those that are gone for good,” said Coenraad Krijger, CEO Wetlands International, which has collaborated with partners across the globe to safeguard migratory waterbirds since its creation in 1996, including by helping to coordinate the International Waterbird Census.
Counting waterbirds is central to saving them. That is why tens of thousands of people across the globe will join the 60th International Waterbird Census (IWC60) in January and February 2026 – continuing one of the longest and largest citizen science programmes in history.
This extraordinary census – conducted in over 150 countries – helps to monitor the status of the world’s waterbirds and highlight the ones that need urgent conservation action.
The extinction of the Slender-billed Curlew is sadly not an outlier. 145 Threatened or Near Threatened migratory waterbird species are heading the same way. The fate of the Slender-billed Curlew must serve as a reminder that we need to turn the tide for the world’s migratory waterbirds and the wetlands that sustain them along their flyways – wetlands that also sustain countless communities and cities and a wealth of other species.
“The fate of the Slender-billed Curlew proves that we cannot conserve what we don’t know. The IWC played an important role in locating its key wintering sites but it has gone extinct because we were not able to locate its breeding grounds and take effective action there as well. This tragic tale highlights the importance of conservation actions along the entire flyway of migratory waterbirds,” said Szabolcs Nagy, Biodiversity Programme Manager, Wetlands International Europe.
“We need to have the most accurate and up-to-date information and that means investing in the International Waterbird Census,” added Nagy. “Its almost six decades of data might not have been able to prevent the extinction of the Slender-billed Curlew but it has guided conservation efforts that have benefited countless other species and vital wetlands.”
So join the IWC60 movement. Sign up to help count. Or join the hundreds of partner organisations across the globe. Or donate to the global Waterbird Fund to ensure this critical census is as comprehensive as possible – and helps to prevent future extinctions.