Monday, March 23, 2009

Great Stone-Plover (Great Thick Knee)



This is the closest I could manage to get of the Stone-plover (Esacus recurvirostris) with my 200mm lens . Photographed at Ranganatittu near Mysore. If you enlarge the first photograph you will see the birds massive goggle shaped eyes and the yellow-black upturned bill. The bird prefers rocky river-beds and hence the Prefix stone for this bird of the Plover family.
This bird loves crabs and that is where its upturned bill comes of great use. Crabs tend to hide under rocks and the bird just rolls off stones using its beak like a crowbar. The bird is also a fast runner another adaptation for chasing crabs.

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