The Whimbrel’s Cousin – (Numenicus americanus)

Last year Louise & I spent many hours “stalking” Whimbrels (Numenius phaseopus) while we were in Churchill, Manitoba and had a fantastic adventure. One of my Whimbrel images from that adventure is below….

Photograph of a Whimbrel in the Tundra Marsh at Churchill, Manitoba, Canada

Now, in Florida, shooting shorebirds, wading birds and the occasional diurnal raptor we come face to face with one of Whimbrel’s cousins.  The Long-billed Curlew (Numenicus americana), head on, could be considered and mistaken briefly for a Whimbrel, but as soon as you see this very long curved bill the confusion ends.

We had heard that there was a Long-billed curlew which visited Fort DeSoto County Park.  When we were at the park I was delighted to find a great number of Marbled Godwits (Limosa fedoa) – another blog to come.  While I was busy working these Godwits Louise, my great spotter, said that there was an interesting looking bird in the distance at the end of the sand spit.  Imagine my excitement when, having finished working the Godwits I put my glass on the new bird to discover it was the Long-Billed curlew!

The first shots were taken during a stalk with my camera on tripod and gimbal head……

(I just cannot resist a reflection – or an unusual stance for a subject)

The second set were taken during a different type of stalk with my camera on ball-head attached to a Skimmer Ground Pod II with me lying flat on my stomach inching forward towards the birds (another blog to come) …..

See My Complete Long-billed Curlew (Numinicus americanus) image gallery HERE

To See My Complete Whimbrel (Numinicus phaeopus) image gallery HERE

Gear: Nikon D4, Nikkor 600mm f/4 VRII, Nikkor TCE-20 III, Really Right Stuff Tripod & Gimbal Head, Really Right Stuff Ball-head, Skimmer plate, Lexar difital film

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 2nd, 2014 at 9:34 am. It is filed under Birds, Color Images, Shorebirds, Wildlife and tagged with (Numenicus americanus), available for licensed use, bird, canvas gallery wrap for sale, fine art print for sale, Florida, Fort DeSoto County Park, Lexar Professional 32GB 1000X Digital Film, Long-billed Curlew, Nikkor 600mm f/4 VRII, Nikkor TC-20e III, Nikon, Nikon D4, Pinellas County, Richard King Photography, RRS Ball-head, RRS gimbal head, Shorebird, Skimmer Ground Pod II, USA, Wildlife bird photography, www.mothernatureimages.com, www.richardkingphoto.com. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.