![\"long-billed](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/long-billed-curlew-8508c-ron-dudley.jpg\")
1\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nI photographed this pair of Long-billed Curlews yesterday morning on Antelope Island. The darker, smaller male invested considerable time and\u00a0effort in getting the female “in the mood” but with only limited success. He spent about\u00a0six minutes performing various breeding\u00a0behaviors while the female mostly watched and seemed to\u00a0bask in all the attention. Both his patience and his enthusiasm seemed limitless but the female seemed mostly interested in how\u00a0skillfully he performed his rituals.\u00a0It all culminated in this attempt at mounting her.<\/p>\n
As is often the case there was considerable luck involved with this image. I happened to catch both birds in profile, there’s excellent separation between them, both birds are sharp, the positions of the male’s wings and feet are interesting and help to tell the story and the intentions of the male are\u00a0fairly obvious.<\/p>\n
I’m only presenting this single image this morning because I took over 1100 images yesterday, most of them of curlews, and my review and image culling process is still far from complete. Sometime soon I’ll be posting images of the fascinating courtship displays of this pair of curlews and there’s likely to be a lot of them.<\/p>\n
But I thought I’d post this image today\u00a0as a teaser.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
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This male curlew was an ardent suitor indeed.<\/p>\n