Long-billed Curlews are shorebirds and, until the other day, I thought they stayed at the shore. I’d only seen these large birds with the impossibly long bills on sandy beaches, usually in Texas. Turns out, they do come inland. The other day driving home from Gray Lodge, we diverted through the rice fields in Sutter County and there, in one of the harvested fields, was a lone Long-billed Curlew, poking its long beak through the rice stubble and into the soft mud hunting for whatever lives in that environment. According to Sibley’s, these birds winter in marshes and fields. A rice field is pretty marsh-like so it’s the ideal setting for one. And, I had the perfect vantage point, shooting from the back seat of the vehicle.