Whimbrel
Whimbrel is a medium wading bird in the curlew family. It has longish legs and a long bill that curves near the tip showing a bit of orange at the base. It is brownish above and whitish below. In flight, it shows a white 'V' shape up its back from its tail. Resting on a slender neck, the relatively small head has a striped pattern: a buff crown center, eyebrows, and face; and dark brown crown sides and eye stripes. Buff is the base color from the face through the under-tail; it is subtly flecked with brown. The upper parts are brown with many feathers edged in buff. The relatively short legs are blue-grey. On average, Whimbrels reach 17.5 inches in length with a wingspan of 32 inches. The Eastern Curlew is a larger wader at 2 footer that you can see in peninsula coast but is consider rare. The latter has longer slender beak.....so do not get confused.
Whimbrels feed on intertidal mudflats by day and night, on worms, crustaceans and occasionally fish and nestling birds. They run nimbly and take prey by probing with their long curved bills in the mud or pecking briskly at the surface.
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