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North America's largest shorebird, the Long-billed Curlew, is a graceful creature with an almost impossibly long, thin, and curved bill. This speckled, cinnamon-washed shorebird probes deep into mud and sand for aquatic invertebrates on its coastal wintering grounds and picks up grasshoppers on the breeding grounds.
- Long-billed Curlew
Male and female Long-billed Curlews look pretty much alike,...
- Long-billed Curlew
The Long-billed Curlew breeds on the wide grasslands of the Great Plains and Great Basin of the western United States and southwestern Canada. It's one of the earliest breeding shorebirds, returning from wintering grounds by mid-March.
Male and female Long-billed Curlews look pretty much alike, but females have a longer bill with a more pronounced curve at the tip than males. The Long-billed Curlew's genus name, Numenius, means “of the new moon,” and describes the slender, curved shape of the bird’s bill.
15 sie 2024 · Curved beaks in shorebirds are an adaption that was developed primarily for efficient feeding strategies. For example, birds like the curlew use their decurved bills to probe deep into the mud for prey, maximizing their food intake in their habitats.
Huge shorebird with incredibly long, decurved bill. Buffy overall with brighter cinnamon wings, especially obvious in flight. Occurs in open fields, marshes, and beaches in western North America; can be seen singly or in flocks.
The long-billed curlew (Numenius americanus) is a large North American shorebird of the family Scolopacidae. This species was also called "sicklebird" and the "candlestick bird". The species breeds in central and western North America, migrating southward and coastward for the winter.
This incredibly long-billed sandpiper is the largest of our shorebirds; but more often than not, it is seen away from the shore. It spends the summer on the grasslands of the arid west, appearing on coastal mudflats only in migration and winter, and even then likely to be on prairies instead.