[6] A second possibility is that the genus name is derived from the word numen, meaning "nod", and referring to this species head being bent forward and down.

The final possibility is that Numenius is a Latinized form of the Greek noumenios, which was the word Diogenes Laërtius used to refer to a species of curlew.

Eskimo curlews migrated to the Pampas of Argentina in the late summer and returned in February.

[13] A comparison of dates and migratory patterns has led some to conjecture that Eskimo curlews and American golden plover are the shorebirds that attracted the attention of Christopher Columbus to nearby land after 65 days at sea and out of sight of land on his first voyage.

Snails and other invertebrates (including the extinct Rocky Mountain locust)[15] also were part of their diet during migration.

[16] At one time, the Eskimo curlew may have been one of the most numerous shorebirds in North America, with a population in the millions.

The last confirmed sightings were in 1962 on Galveston Island, Texas (where it was photographed) and on Barbados in 1963 (where a specimen was collected).

There was a reliable report of 23 birds in Texas in 1981, and a few dozen additional unconfirmed reports from scattered locales (the Northwest Territories, Texas, Ontario, Manitoba, Massachusetts, Alaska, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Argentina, Guatemala, Labrador, New Jersey, and North Carolina) between 1964 and 2006.

[1] Full details on all sightings up to 1986 are included in the online edition of Eskimo Curlew: A Vanishing Species?

[20] This species is fully protected in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

The plight of this bird inspired the novel (and subsequent Emmy Award-winning 1972 ABC Afterschool Special) Last of the Curlews.