kscheng 22/11/2013 16:39
A gifted curlew
This Eurasian Curlew probed his elongated bill into the mud flats in Maipo in the morning of November 6th. He picked up arthropods for his breakfast. His fifteen-centimeter long decurved bill is a gifted weapon that no invertebrates could fight with.
ajohn 22/11/2013 18:47
This is actually a Whimbrel rather than Eurasian Curlew - if you look closely you can see that the head has a well-marked pattern with dark eye-stripe and pale above the eye. They're not very common in winter (only 1 or 2 present now).
I expect it was feeding on crabs, which seem to be the favorite food of Whimbrel. A you saw, they're very good at finding the burrows and pulling the crabs out.
kscheng 23/11/2013 11:42
Hello John, thank you for the identification. As I can see in my picture, he has caught a crab for his meal.