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<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a01\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n So when we\u00a0visited the island yesterday morning both Mia and I were anxiously looking for curlews.\u00a0 And we found them in good numbers on the same strutting grounds they’ve preferred in the past.\u00a0 This is a female – they’re larger than the males and have longer bills.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Their calling is something we both love to hear.\u00a0 At times you can hear their calls reverberating all over the north end of the island as they call in flight and on the ground (link to their call here<\/strong><\/a>).<\/p>\n This is not a simple wing-stretch.\u00a0 It’s an aggressive behavior called “wing-raising” and it’s directed at other birds at close range.\u00a0 The behavior is used to maintain comfortable distances between individual\u00a0curlews (yes, there were other curlews relatively close by).<\/p>\n These birds really come into their own when they show the colors under their wings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Another wing-raising posture, this time with gusto.<\/p>\n These curlews will be displaying, strutting their stuff, performing aerial displays\u00a0and selecting\u00a0mates over the next few weeks,\u00a0something I’ve looked forward to for many frigid months now.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n PS – For those of you who visit the island occasionally, you’ll notice something different on your next trip as you approach the entrance station at the beginning of the causeway.<\/p>\n There’s an almost new electronic gate at the entrance that is closed to traffic during the night (folks leaving the island are allowed out via a sensor in the road).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n