Utah’s Long-billed Curlews Have Arrived And Their Calls Are Being Heard

Male Long-billed Curlew at sunrise in a frosty grassland – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/200, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

Utah’s Long-billed Curlews have arrived and their calls are being heard as they display over the grasslands, as they forage for food on the ground and I’m over the moon because they have returned. I love their haunting calls and quite often those calls clue me in on their location.

Want to hear Long-billed Curlews? Have a listen here.

The first time I saw a Long-billed Curlew in Utah I have to admit I was a little stunned because I’d only photographed them previously in Florida and it seemed odd that I would see them in western grasslands as opposed to the beaches of the Gulf Coast but the grasslands are where they breed and raise their young. The curlews I saw in Florida were overwintering or were too young to mate and had stayed over on their wintering grounds.

Since moving to Utah I have been able to see and photograph Long-billed Curlews displaying, mating, fighting, incubating, on their nests, foraging, watching over their young and have listened to their calls echo over the grasslands in Utah, Idaho and Montana.

Male Long-billed Curlew displaying in front of Fremont Island and the Promontory Mountains – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/400, ISO 640, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

Nearly three years ago on April 2, 2016 I had one of the most amazing views of well over one hundred migrating Long-billed Curlews not too far from the visitor center at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge as they staged near the Bear River. I was so stunned by the number of curlews I could see that I had to pull over to the side of the road, turn off my engine and soak it all in. At that moment in time as I viewed them by myself I wished that I could have shared what I was seeing with the world but I couldn’t get them all in a single photo because they were spread out so I sat there enchanted as I watched them forage and listened to them call. I was in the right place at precisely the right time to see an amazing, natural gathering of these incredible birds. It was profoundly satisfying for me to see all of the curlews since shorebirds were my “spark” birds that propelled me into bird photography. I hope I never lose my memory of those curlews from that day.

Neither of these images is spectacular but for me they stir my senses. I can hear the call of the birds echoing in my mind.

Yesterday when I saw, heard and photographed these Long-billed Curlews while on Antelope Island I was reminded of all the times I have taken photos of these large shorebirds here in Utah, Montana and in Florida and how I have enjoyed having an intimate view of their lives both through my lens and with my eyes. I love what I do.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Long-billed Curlew photos plus facts and information about this species.