A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
1467 entries
whimbrel
The whimbrel is a large wader with a long downcurved bill, a boldly striped crown, and a call that is its whole identity: a rapid even series of seven whistled notes on one pitch, quite unlike the curlew’s rising cry. It breeds on northern moor and tundra and winters on coasts across the southern hemisphere, and it is heard passing overhead far more often than it is seen.
Etymology
The name is imitative, from the whimpering or whinnying quality of the call, and it is on record from the sixteenth century. Its folk name in Britain is the seven whistler, from the number of notes, and that name attached itself to a body of superstition about invisible birds heard passing over at night as an omen.