I was standing on the beach taking pictures of a ruddy turnstone when the long-billed curlew flew right in front of me.
I never get this lucky. He was looking at me like “I’m ready for my photo shoot.”
He already had sand all the way up his beak so he’s been feeding.
I sat down on the sand and watched him dig.
Success. A little sandy crab came out of the hole.
After swallowing that one, he continued to dig.
This one he flipped up in the air like popcorn shrimp.
Still digging. What a pig!
He seemed to want to show me this one up close. He started walking toward me with it in his beak.
He flipped it up to swallow it. After this crab, he started wandering off down the beach so I left him to his feeding.
This ruddy turnstone wanted to get in on the crab action as well. He walked right in front of me showing off his prize.
Another Saturday morning on Fort Desoto beach.
The birds you shared are so interesting, great captures of little crabs pulled from the sand. And then I got to the bottom of your post to see you were at Fort Desoto beach. This is a favourite place of ours to visit when we stay in Florida. Of course, I’ve only been at the crowded beach area but it is where I found a whole silver dollar a few years back.
really beautiful shots!
Wow–he really wanted you to showcase his crab getting ability. Super shots.
Love the baby stork too. MB
Dina you never cease to amaze me! Fabulous series, every photo is perfect and together, words fail me.
Absolutely fantastic photos, proximity and details, I’m impressed. The long-billed curlew is related to our eurasian curlew and I know this birds as extremly shy and they keep normaly a great distance to humans, wow really impressive photos and a beautiful blog :-).
Wow Those are outstanding! Tremendous action shots this amazing bird!
Great shots! The Curlew has lovely plumage.
Beautiful shots!
Looks like they were happy to have an audience. Great shots!
I have yet to see one of these guys! These are awesome captures …
You were so lucky to have them come so close, beautiful photos.