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Long-Billed Curlew

Long-Billed Curlew line art illustration (click image to enlarge)

Long-Billed Curlew full color illustration (click image to enlarge)

Artist's notes:

The Long-Billed Curlew was completed on 8.2.2011. After a trip to Monterey a few months back, I decided to pen some of the more commonly encountered shorebirds you'd be likely to find on an average visit to the beach. This was a little easier said then done, as there are several birds that very closely resemble one another, and even with a guidebook it can be a little difficult to identify them. The curlew really caught my eye however, and I picked it as one of the first birds to be drawn for this project. The drawing is based on a photo by Alex Houston.

Information about the Long-Billed Curlew:

The Long-Billed Curlew - also sometime called the "Sicklebird" or Candlestick Bird - is a species of shorebird native to the central and western parts of North America. They are notable for their very long beak that curves slightly downwards. The beak is used to probe for food in water saturated environments, very commonly at the seashore where the birds will follow the waves in and out and look for food brought in with the seawater, such as small worms, crustaceans and other invertebrates. At one time the bird's numbers were drastically reduced, but over the last few decades they have rebounded, and the population is now stable. Candlestick Point in San Francisco was named after the alternate name of the Long-Billed Curlew.