Monday, November 23, 2009

Lunch for a Long-billed Curlew

At Laguna Atascosa NWR, I watched this Long-billed Curlew probing the mud & finding lunch.

Having found a tasty, crawlie morsel, how does one then get it from one end of the bill to the other?

You give it a little flip ...

... catch it again ...

... flip it again ... and swallow - in so little time that a hapless photographer only records the final "yummy, yummy" as the morsel wiggles down the throat ...

Then off to look for more ...

Good birding!

10 comments:

Chris said...

Excellent sequence Chris... Fantastic to be able to follow it like that. Again a bird I've never seen!

Wilma said...

I can only echo Chris that this is an excellent series of shots!

Erica Houskeeper said...

What a great collection, and every shot is so interesting. I love the little flip!

Deejbrown said...

Makes me peckish. Heading to the frig to see what I can toss down too.

Noushka said...

Excellent, Chris!
Your prose is wonderfully humoristic and matches well your great photography!
It is a beautiful bird, and its beak is incredible!
you're lucky to have this king f wild life around you!

Laurent said...

Great pictures, Chris! thanks for your comment on my blog!

Hope to see you one day in Michigan (I still have not see the kirtland warbler either!)

Anonymous said...

Great sequence!

Tina said...

Neat series of shots. Such talent to pick up that shelled fish and flip it towards this mouth..that's a lot of work to get one's food..but wow what balance and skill!!
Thanks for sharing!!

Unknown said...

Wow, Chris - you've outdone yourself once again! I can't believe you were able to get so many perfect images in the time it takes to bounce a bug off a bird's bill! Great job!

Dawn Fine said...

One of my favorite birds..I wonder how it doesnt trip over its bill..
nice shots!

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