{"id":2618,"date":"2011-07-01T13:37:12","date_gmt":"2011-07-01T19:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=2618"},"modified":"2026-04-01T06:15:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T11:15:55","slug":"friday-photos-long-billed-curlews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/07\/01\/friday-photos-long-billed-curlews\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday Photos – Long-billed Curlews"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Landing\u00a0Landing Long-billed Curlew\u00a0–\u00a0Nikon D200, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 400, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This morning the bird photography was slow on Antelope Island State Park until a Long-billed Curlew perched on a boulder below me. I hurried down the hill and saw not just the curlew perched on the boulder but also spotted a juvenile foraging in the vegetation below the adult.<\/p>\n

I don’t normally see Long-billed Curlews perched high up, most of the time they are at ground level. I believe that they perch on items to keep an eye on their chicks.<\/p>\n

The adult above took flight then landed back on the boulder twice while I was photographing it and the juvenile bird. In the photo above it was making the second landing.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile Long-billed Curlew\u00a0–\u00a0 Nikon D200, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 280mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The juvenile Long-billed Curlew was foraging and preening in the vegetation on the ground below the adult perched on the boulder and at times it was hard to see it through the grasses and dried vegetation but it did give me the opportunity to photograph it a few times while it was less obscured. The tiny black specks in the frame above are flying insects.<\/p>\n

The adults have very long, curved bills though when they hatch their bills are short and show far less of a curve.<\/p>\n

I thought I would only have a few images to cull because it was so slow at the start of the morning due to lack of birds and poor light. Boy, was I wrong! What a nice surprise.<\/p>\n

Happy Friday!<\/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":"

The juvenile Long-billed Curlew was foraging and preening in the vegetation on the ground below the adult perched on the boulder<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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":""},"categories":[511,27,1022,199,26],"tags":[4004,4137,4021,4138,4134,4809,4052,4122,4136,4067,4071,4123,4132,4133,274,4135],"class_list":["post-2618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-long-billed-curlews","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-adult-plumage","tag-bird-photography","tag-boulder","tag-chick","tag-curlews","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-foraging","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-landing","tag-long-billed-curlew","tag-numenius-americanus","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-wing-lift"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/long-billed-curlew-adult-landing-mia-mcpherson-3652.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-Ge","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":101253,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/31\/spring-long-billed-curlew-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":2618,"position":0},"title":"Spring Long-billed Curlew Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I spotted and pointed out this Long-billed Curlew foraging and calling in the grasses of the north end of Antelope Island State Park.","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":"Alert male Long-billed Curlew in soft morning light, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/long-billed-curlew-male-spring-mia-mcpherson-6441.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-male-spring-mia-mcpherson-6441.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/long-billed-curlew-male-spring-mia-mcpherson-6441.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/long-billed-curlew-male-spring-mia-mcpherson-6441.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2629,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/07\/03\/shorebirds-long-billed-curlew-juvenile\/","url_meta":{"origin":2618,"position":1},"title":"Shorebirds: Long-billed Curlew Juvenile","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes I just feel so lucky being a bird photographer. Not only do I get to be outside in nature when I am photographing, but I get nice surprises too like when this Long-billed Curlew juvenile approached near enough to get head shots of it.","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":"Close up of a Long-billed Curlew juvenile, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/long-billed-curlew-utah-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-4634.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/long-billed-curlew-utah-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-4634.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Cheatgrass","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Cheatgrass is invasive but I sure think it can be pretty especially with a lovely bird amongst it like this male Long-billed Curlew that I photographed on Antelope Island State Park recently.","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 Cheatgrass, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/long-billed-curlew-male-mia-mcpherson-3667.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-male-mia-mcpherson-3667.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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