Whimbrel

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I love shorebirds, and I miss seeing them every year. Besides being beautiful to look at and fascinating to watch, shorebirds remind me of my travels to Japan, where I saw 17 new species of birds (all shorebirds, and all in breeding plumage) in ONE DAY! Needless to say, I nearly died from joy on that particular day. When I lived in Seattle, I also spent a tremendous amount of time birding at a variety of shorelines from British Columbia all the way down through California, and I also regularly visited several migrating long-billed curlews who refueled in a cattle pasture in central Washington state every springtime.

Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus at Bolivar Flats, Texas.

Image: Joseph Kennedy, 2 July 2008 [larger view].

Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/2000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.

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tags: Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, birds, nature, Image of the Day Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, at Bolivar Flats, Texas. Image: Joseph Kennedy, 25 July 2008 [larger view]. Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/2000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
tags: Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, birds, nature, Image of the Day Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, at Bolivar Flats, Texas. Image: Joseph Kennedy, 25 July 2008 [larger view]. Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/2000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
tags: Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, birds, nature, Image of the Day Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, at Bolivar Flats, Texas. Image: Joseph Kennedy, 25 July 2008 [larger view]. Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/2000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
tags: Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, birds, nature, Image of the Day Compare this species to the two previous images of the day. The long-billed curlew is a larger relative of the whimbrel. Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus at Bolivar Flats, Texas. Image: Joseph Kennedy, 2 July…

Wow--awesome photo! Pure beauty! Thanks to Joseph Kennedy from Texas for the beautiful photo and also thanks to you, Devorah, for your wonderful blog!

=grin= How could anyone not love a bird with a name like "Whimbrel"?

By themadlolscientist (not verified) on 08 Jul 2008 #permalink

Your statement that you "miss seeing shorebirds every year," is very puzzling. According to your blog, you live in New York City and spend time in a tree in Central Park. If you will look at a map of the area, you will see that the City is located on the Atlantic coast where shorebirds are present most of the year.

By Nellie Larsen (not verified) on 08 Jul 2008 #permalink