Large Sandpipers
Long-billed Curlew picking up a fiddler crab
A very large sandpiper with an impressively long bill, this species spends much of the year on dry prairie, eating grasshoppers and other insects plucked from the grass.
Long-billed Curlew picking up a fiddler crab
A very large sandpiper with an impressively long bill, this species spends much of the year on dry prairie, eating grasshoppers and other insects plucked from the grass.
■ These four species of shorebirds all have long slender bills, but each one uses its bill in an entirely different way. The Marbled Godwit probes in mud or sand, similar to the Dunlin (this page). The American Avocet sweeps its upturned bill sideways through the water, hunting by feel and grabbing any food that makes contact (similar to the Roseate Spoonbill, this page). The American Oystercatcher (which eats few oysters and doesn’t need to “catch” them) uses its sturdy bill on mollusks such as snails and mussels to knock them loose and open their shells. The Black-necked Stilt uses its very slender bill to pick small food items delicately from the surface of the water or mud (similar to Wilson’s Phalarope, this page). Each of these species is a specialist, and occupies a niche within the ecological community, so they can all forage in the same place without competing for food.
From top to bottom: Marbled Godwit, American Avocet, American Oystercatcher, Black-necked Stilt
■ The tip of a sandpiper’s bill is packed with nerve endings so they can sense their prey under the mud or sand, and they have taste buds inside the tip of their bill to test whatever they find. The bill has flexible “joints” near the tip, controlled by tendons connected to muscles on the skull. Even when a prey item is buried deep in the mud or sand, it can be grasped and pulled out.
A Marbled Godwit flexing its bill tip; compare the resting bill shape of the Marbled Godwit in the previous image.