So, honestly, I will never get tired of watching Long-tailed Curlews feed. It is so absolutely impossible. That long decurved bill is very efficient at probing deeply into the mud at the water’s edge for the tiny crabs it feeds on. The bill clamps down…kind of like catching a fly with chopsticks…and the bird draws the crustacean out. Fine…but then the food is suspended several inches from its destination, way down there in that long bill. The Curlew literally flips the crab, still alive, of course, up its bill and catches it in its mouth. The physics of the maneuver seems unlikly, but it apparently works. This is not the first photo I have taken of it (and Curlews have not gone extinct yet. 🙂

Olympus OM-D E-M10. 75-300mm zoom. 600mm equivalent. Shutter prefered. ISO 1000 @ 1/1000th @ f7.1. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014. Cropped slightly.

If anyone is wondering…my posts this week are going to be late. I am on West Coast Time, in San Diego for the San Diego Birding Festival. This shot was in the San Diego River Channel near the Mission Bay Convention Center.