![\"long-billed](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/long-billed-curew-1807-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBirds can do some pretty amazing things with their bills. This is one of them.<\/p>\n
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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 400,<\/em> Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n Yesterday morning as I headed home from Antelope Island I spotted this lone Long-billed Curlew along the causeway. I didn’t have much enthusiasm for photographing it because the light was becoming harsh and it didn’t seem to be doing anything interesting but I’d been mostly skunked all morning so I trained my lens on the bird anyway.<\/p>\n The curlew was along the shore to feed on the plentiful brine flies that can be seen as hundreds of little dark specks on the water (no, they’re not dust bunnies…). Before we move on to the next shot notice how perfectly the upper bill (maxilla) conforms to the downwardly\u00a0curved shape of the\u00a0lower mandible.<\/p>\n Just as I was about to pull in my lens…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 400,<\/em> Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n the curlew opened its bill and flexed the end of its maxilla upward<\/em>. The shapes of the upper and lower bill\u00a0no longer conform. Sometimes the change in shape is much more extreme than this.<\/p>\n Many folks presume the bill of all birds to be rigid and inflexible but that’s just not the case. Many long-billed shorebirds\u00a0(hummingbirds too) can flex the end of their maxilla in a process called rhynchokinesis as an aid\u00a0to feeding in\u00a0mud and dirt. It takes much less effort to expand only the tip of the bill while\u00a0feeling for food in\u00a0thick substrates than it would to expand the entire length of the bill.<\/p>\n Usually we don’t see it happening because the bill is buried in the mud but they sometimes do it with the bill in full view – for what reason I can only speculate.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640,<\/em> Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n Last year I photographed this Wilson’s Snipe doing the same thing.<\/p>\n This behavior is usually done quickly and many bird photographers aren’t even aware it’s happened until they process their images at home and at that point they often\u00a0believe they have a bird with a deformed bill.<\/p>\n I’ve posted about rhynchokinesis in the past but I thought viewers might be interested in seeing another example.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Birds can do some pretty amazing things with their bills. This is one of them.<\/p>\n![\"long-billed](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/long-billed-curlew-1820-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"wilson's](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/wilsons-snipe-8054-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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