{"id":141688,"date":"2023-08-24T05:53:18","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T11:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=141688"},"modified":"2023-08-24T07:33:50","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T13:33:50","slug":"long-billed-curlew-swallowing-an-egg-whole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2023\/08\/24\/long-billed-curlew-swallowing-an-egg-whole\/","title":{"rendered":"Long-billed Curlew Swallowing An Egg Whole"},"content":{"rendered":"

This curlew gave me a lesson on what “opportunistic foraging” really means.<\/p>\n

Occasionally I rerun a favorite older post. This one was originally published in April of 2016. For this version I’ve omitted part of the original post that had little to do with the subject at hand, edited the text and tweaked the formatting.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Long-billed Curlews are often described as “opportunistic feeders” but until this April morning on Antelope Island I had no idea how opportunistic they can be.<\/p>\n

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\"long-billed<\/p>\n

1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n

I was mostly just watching this female? curlew through my lens and not taking photos because she wasn’t very close and she usually had grass in front of her, when she suddenly picked something up from behind the clump of grass in front of her. Looking through my lens I couldn’t tell what she picked up but it turned out to be a small bird’s egg.<\/p>\n

Almost certainly it was an egg from a Horned Lark’s nest that was hidden behind the grass clump.<\/p>\n

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\"long-billed<\/p>\n

1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n

She quickly began to move the egg up her very long bill in preparation for swallowing.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

\"long-billed<\/p>\n

1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n

A very large crop of the previous image confirms that it really was a small, lightly speckled egg.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

\"long-billed<\/p>\n

1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n

In one photo, not quite as sharp as the others, I caught the egg in midair (the egg isn’t touching her bill).<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

\"long-billed<\/p>\n

1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n

She had to move the egg a good distance up that long bill but it’s almost there.<\/p>\n

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\"long-billed<\/p>\n

1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n

Down the hatch (bad pun intended). Based on the burst rate of my camera and how many photos I took, it only took her about half a second to move it up her bill and swallow it.<\/p>\n

This behavior surprised me for two reasons:<\/p>\n