I drove back to Otero County earlier this week to try to refind the Long-billed Curlews I found over the week-end in hopes I could confirm breeding. I did refind them and spent 2 1/2 hours observing, photographing and videotaping them. The top pic shows (from left to right) female,chick, and male. How do I know this? The subscription online reference guide from Cornell School of Ornithology-Birds of North America states that the bill of female Long-billed Curlews is longer than the bill of males (and different shape but I can't discern that as these birds were 250-300 feet away) and that the bill of juveniles is shorter than that of adults during it's "first few months."
In the bottom pic the chick is on the left and the male bird on the right. One and sometimes both parents stayed within a few hundred feet of the foraging chick, keeping close watch over him and any threats. SeEtta
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