Each April we take time to reflect and appreciate curlews on World Curlew Day. This year take a journey to coastal California with these spectacular photos.
By: Pete Myers
A series of atmospheric rivers descended upon California this winter. They continue even today (late March 2023), with high winds and voluminous rain and snowfall causing floods and reshaping coastlines. In one of the breaks in the weather system, I donned chest waders and surfing booties and headed just north of San Francisco to visit Limantour Beach, a site I have been visiting regularly since 1976. I happened upon an unusual opportunity to photograph Long-billed Curlews (Numenius americanus) gathered in flocks at high tide on a sandy beach feeding upon mole crabs (Emerita analoga).
The curlews were forced out on the beach by a very high (“King”) tide in numbers I’d never seen here before. Much of the beach had been scoured by the storms, forcing the curlew to concentrate in one area. They were taking large mole crabs out of the higher parts of the intertidal wave-washed zone. Almost invariably, when a mole crab too big to swallow immediately was caught, surrounding curlew attempted to steal the crab from the bird that had nabbed it. And because my gear protected me from sand and (some) waves, I was able to get eye-level photographs of the action by lying down on the beach and crab-walking forward.
Photographic details: Sony α1, 1/2000 to 1/4000 of a second, Sony 200-600 mm lens mostly at 600.
Cover Photo: Flock of Long-billed Curlews at Limantour Beach, California, United States. Photo: Pete Myers.
