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Archive 2015 · Long-billed curlews

  
 
big_fish
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Long-billed curlews


When the neighbour’s cat wanders into your yard, eyeing up your flower bed slash giant litter box, you yell and scream and he leaves. However, what if the neighbours had a pet elephant? While walking across the vast open landscape of Grasslands National Park it’s important to remember that most bird species here construct their nests on the ground. With every step there's a risk of crushing a well hidden nest. Fortunately most feathered parents do a great job of letting you know when you’re too close. Take this long-billed curlew for example. They’re North America’s largest shorebird, who travel inland to mixed grasslands to nest during summer months. If any potential egg or chick-crushing animals are headed towards the curlew’s nest, the parents will begin what’s considered a distraction display. Both male and female abandon the nest and begin squawking loudly, swooping very low and landing in close proximity to the intruder in an effort to alter its path and protect their nest. In this case their distraction display was understood loud and clear, and once I changed direction the long-billed curlews disappeared.

1)

Long-billed curlew by Neil Fisher, on Flickr


Males construct the nest, creating a shallow scrape in the dry ground. Females do eventually join in, using their breast and bill to shovel out a depression. Together they line the nest with pebbles, grass, twigs, seeds, and even animal droppings. Both will take turns to incubate the eggs and both take an aggressive stance in defending the nest. Females usually split a few weeks after the brood hatches, leaving the male to care for the young. But even after this abandonment, the same pair will often breed and nest together for multiple years. A clutch always consists of 4 eggs, roughly 6 to 7 centimetres in length, and are incubated for 27 to 31 days. Young are able to leave the nest 5 hours after hatching and after 10 hours they’re able to search for food.

2)

Curlew Nest by Neil Fisher, on Flickr

With its long bill, the appropriately named long-billed curlew is perfectly adapted to prey upon marine invertebrates hiding in deep burrows. However, North America’s largest shorebird doesn’t spend all its time at the beach. The long-billed curlew travels inland during the summer months to short and mixed grasslands where it nests. On the prairies they feed on grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars, spiders and other small animals. The number of long-billed curlews is declining, with the primary culprit being land conversion. In Canada less than 25 percent of native grasslands remain and their wintering habitats haven’t fared any better. In California alone, more than 90 percent of native wetlands have been destroyed.

3)

Long-billed Curlew by Neil Fisher, on Flickr



Jun 17, 2015 at 12:11 PM
therealthings
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Long-billed curlews


There's a white horizontal line running through your images. You should check your sensor. It might be faulty. (Or is that a new way of preventing theft?) Otherwise nice set of images.


Jun 17, 2015 at 01:46 PM
big_fish
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Long-billed curlews


therealthings wrote:
There's a white horizontal line running through your images. You should check your sensor. It might be faulty. (Or is that a new way of preventing theft?) Otherwise nice set of images.


yup, it's a water mark. I'm just tired of people grabbing photos form flickr - even at low resolutions.



Jun 18, 2015 at 04:47 PM
therealthings
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Long-billed curlews


big_fish wrote:
yup, it's a water mark. I'm just tired of people grabbing photos form flickr - even at low resolutions.


Pretty sad really that you have to do that to your images to prevent them from stealing them.
I never did it to my images, and just hope people will never claim they shot an image that they didn't make.



Jun 19, 2015 at 05:56 AM





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