Shorebird season continues! I went out looking to see a rare Long-billed Curlew in the late afternoon. It had been reported all day by many people, so I thought my chances were pretty good. After a mile walk in the heat, I was somehow unable to see the large bird on the mudflats where I expected it to be foraging. As I was standing there entering something into my eBird checklist on my phone I heard loud cries of what sounded a bit like a gull. The calls took a few seconds to register in my brain, but then I had my camera up and began shooting photos of a pair of large birds flying off. Luckily, they briefly came back toward me before heading off for good. They must have been Curlews, but there were two of them! Nobody else had reported more than one all day. After double-checking my audio recording, and photos on the computer, it was definitely a pair of Long-billed Curlews. I would have loved to have watched them foraging on the ground for a while, but I guess it was fortuitous that I was present when they flew off (and that I was able to report two of them). The mudflats were surrounded by lots of areas with tall grass, so perhaps both were able to hang out somewhere out of sight for me, while one of them was able to avoid being spotted by everyone else.

These photos are © 2025 Phil Thompson, all rights reserved.

My "birds in review" collages can be found here.