Long-billed Curlews & other birds

I heard about the long-billed curlew sightings at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, but its a huge place, so I went with no real expectations of seeing one... leave alone 38! A first sighting for me.




I wasn't seeing anything interesting in the refuge, so I spent some time photographing a pair of mourning doves from the car.




On the wildlife drive, I spotted the Long-billed Curlews and watched four or five of them pulling up these worms & swallowing them.








Then suddenly the whole field erupted in curlews that I had not seen even though they were right in front of me. In another picture, I counted 38. They flew around and came in to land close to where they were feeding before.




So I spent some more time photographing these awesome looking birds.












They're hard to see!




See the worm curled around the beak?






On my way out, this kestrel entertained me with its hovering. It dived soon after, but it was too fast for me to follow.








And a final bonus - 3 big-horned Owlets. No sign of the parents.

Congrats on the curlews! Never seen one myself - that would be on my list. They're extremely rare here, but have been known to pop in along the shore on occasion. Just never when I'm there!

Really neat to see the kestrel catching some backlight to show the tail colors, and love the owlets - they look awfully out in the open for great horned owls - ours are always hidden deep in the trees!

Nice catch on the long-billed curlews and the owls. Haven’t had a chance to photograph any of them.

Newbie Phewbie said:

I heard about the long-billed curlew sightings at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, but its a huge place, so I went with no real expectations of seeing one... leave alone 38! A first sighting for me.

Click to expand...

It looks like you had a very good day and got some very nice shots! It's also nice that you went out targeting the long-billed curlews, and they were all over the place.

Below are my favorites of this set.

1. I've never seen a curlew, so I like to see new and interesting birds. I'd like to know how they gets those worms off their bills!

2. I have never seen or got a shot of a kestral either, and you got a very nice shot of one.

3. I've only seen one horned owl down here, although I got a picture of it, it was pretty much hidden behind a tree in the shade. They look like they were made to withstand some very cold weather.

Newbie Phewbie said:

See the worm curled around the beak?


On my way out, this kestrel entertained me with its hovering. It dived soon after, but it was too fast for me to follow.


And a final bonus - 3 big-horned Owlets. No sign of the parents.

Click to expand...

--
Life is short, so make the best of it while you can!

Thanks Justin.

Out on the prairie, the owls don't have the luxury of deep forest Still, they're hard to find and I've only been able to find the great horned owls because they sometimes stick out like sore thumbs before the trees leaf out.

[No message]

[No message]