{"id":24945,"date":"2015-05-31T04:29:39","date_gmt":"2015-05-31T10:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=24945"},"modified":"2024-07-12T04:36:12","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T09:36:12","slug":"growth-of-bills-in-long-billed-curlews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/05\/31\/growth-of-bills-in-long-billed-curlews\/","title":{"rendered":"Growth of Bills in Long-billed Curlews"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Long-billedLong-billed Curlew chick at Bear River MBR – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Long-billed Curlews don’t hatch with long bills, in fact the bills of the chicks look rather stubby for the first few months of their lives.\u00a0 Two days ago I spotted two Long-billed Curlews chicks and two adults not far from the auto tour route at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> and I was able to get images of the chicks out in the open. The chicks were still downy with long legs, short bills and the wings were barely noticeable.<\/p>\n

I thought a post on the growth of bills in Long-billed Curlews might interest some of my readers.<\/p>\n

The bills are probably short for two reasons, the first being long bills wouldn’t fit well within the eggs and secondly the chicks need a strong bill to scrape against the egg shell to pip and a shorter bill would be stronger than a longer one would be.<\/p>\n

I do know that the Long-billed Curlew chicks are little cuties!<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileA juvenile Long-billed Curlew on Antelope Island – Nikon D200, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 264mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This image taken in July of 2011 shows an older Long-billed Curlew chick on Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a>. This curlew has lost the down except for the top of its head and the back of its neck and is in juvenal plumage. The bill is longer than the bill in the first image but still quite short compared to an adult curlew.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAn adult male Long-billed Curlew – Nikon D7100, f9, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This image shows the length of the bill for an adult male Long-billed Curlew I photographed last June on Antelope Island. Adult female Long-billed Curlews have even longer more curved bills than the males.<\/p>\n

Isn’t nature fascinating?<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Long-billed Curlew photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I thought a post on the growth of bills in Long-billed Curlews might interest some of my readers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[511,124,27,1148,1022,199,26],"tags":[4004,4951,4068,4808,4809,3790,4067,56,4132,4062,4133,3975,274],"class_list":["post-24945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-davis-county-utah","category-long-billed-curlews","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-bill-growth","tag-chicks","tag-curlew","tag-curlews","tag-growth","tag-immature","tag-juveniles-2","tag-long-billed-curlew","tag-male","tag-numenius-americanus","tag-shorebird","tag-shorebirds-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/long-billed-curlew-chick-mia-mcpherson-7781.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-6ul","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8503,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/01\/the-candlestick-birds-long-billed-curlews\/","url_meta":{"origin":24945,"position":0},"title":"Candlestick Birds – Long-billed Curlews","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been enjoying seeing Long-billed Curlews for several weeks now in northern Utah. These large shorebirds birds are also called \"Candlestick birds\" and \"Sickle Birds\" because of their long bills.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Long-billed Curlew in a field of Cheatgrass, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/long-billed-curlew-mia-mcpherson-7367.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/long-billed-curlew-mia-mcpherson-7367.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/long-billed-curlew-mia-mcpherson-7367.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/long-billed-curlew-mia-mcpherson-7367.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14517,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/03\/07\/long-billed-birds-and-preening\/","url_meta":{"origin":24945,"position":1},"title":"Long billed Birds and Preening","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Preening in birds is essential for keeping their feathers clean, arranged correctly and for some birds it is a way to distribute oils from the uropygial gland which helps to keep the feathers clean and healthy.","rel":"","context":"In "American Oystercatchers"","block_context":{"text":"American Oystercatchers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/american-oystercatchers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Long-billed Curlew preening at the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico at Fort De Soto County Park, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/long-billed-curlew-preening-mia-mcpherson-4982.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/long-billed-curlew-preening-mia-mcpherson-4982.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/long-billed-curlew-preening-mia-mcpherson-4982.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/long-billed-curlew-preening-mia-mcpherson-4982.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2618,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/07\/01\/friday-photos-long-billed-curlews\/","url_meta":{"origin":24945,"position":2},"title":"Friday Photos – Long-billed Curlews","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The juvenile Long-billed Curlew was foraging and preening in the vegetation on the ground below the adult perched on the boulder","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Landing adult Long-billed Curlew, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/long-billed-curlew-adult-landing-mia-mcpherson-3652.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/long-billed-curlew-adult-landing-mia-mcpherson-3652.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/long-billed-curlew-adult-landing-mia-mcpherson-3652.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/long-billed-curlew-adult-landing-mia-mcpherson-3652.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14602,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/03\/23\/the-long-billed-curlews-are-back-in-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":24945,"position":3},"title":"Long-billed Curlews Are Back In Utah!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I saw my first of the year Long-billed Curlews two days ago on Antelope Island State Park flying overhead. They weren't close enough to photograph but I know that soon I will have them in my viewfinder again.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Curlew walking the shore of the Gulf of Mexico at Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/long-billed-curlew-shoreline-mia-mcpherson-6031.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/long-billed-curlew-shoreline-mia-mcpherson-6031.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/long-billed-curlew-shoreline-mia-mcpherson-6031.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The first of March always makes me think of and listen for Long-billed Curlews, our largest shorebird of North America.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Long-billed Curlew in spring grasses, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/long-billed-curlew-grasses-mia-mcpherson-0324.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/long-billed-curlew-grasses-mia-mcpherson-0324.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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