Curlews wading through the grass

At the grasslands in Lower Austria I was able to get close to a Curlew that was wading in the grass and I am happy about it. The Curlew is one of the biggest waders that can be found here. It has one of the longest bills in the bird world and it feeds on worms and invertibrates that it picks from the mudd or the meaddows. It is breeding in the high grass of grasslands near rivers and lakes. Due to heavy agricultural use of most meaddows it has lost a lot of its former habitat. But there are still some spots mostly in protected landscape areas where it finds spots to breed in the high grassland.

Because of it's long bill and relatively big size it is one of my favorite birds that I can find here in Austria. It is always nice watching them and hearing their sounds when they call. I can hear them from far away and when there is mating time in Spring I often hear them singing.

Curlew wading in the grass. Picture: Florian Glechner.