The story of the Eurasian Curlew

First there were three of these Eurasian Curlews (Numenius arquata orientalis) -or Gajahan Besar in Indonesian- among a flock of Lesser Sand Plovers. One by one they flew away, probably felt disturbed by my presence in the rain, off Segiling shoreline, Bintan.

They have one of the largest bill among sandpiper species. As other sandpipers, they feed on invertebrates during low tide, bur are also known to feed on diverse range of diet such as terrestrial insects (e.g. Coleoptera and Orthoptera), spiders, berries and seeds, as well as small fish, amphibians, lizards, young birds and small rodents. Their long legs are nature’s adaptation to enable them foraging in muddy and boggy areas.

Their geographic range can be seen from Oiseaux.net. They breed in the temperate regions of Europe and Asia, and migrate to the warmer southern area in the muddy coasts, bays and estuaries with tidal mudflats and sandflats, rocky and sandy beaches with many pools, mangroves, saltmarshes, coastal meadows and muddy shores of coastal lagoons, inland lakes and rivers.

[Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 70-200 f/4L IS, f/8.0, 1/750sec, ISO 400]

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