This is Bird Note.

Every spring in the grasslands that remain in the Great Basin and Great Plains,

you may be treated to the flight display of the long-billed curlew, accompanied by its bubbling song. The male flies up

with rapidly beating wings and glides down, then up again and down, stitching a series of arcs

across the sky and calling as he goes. Long-billed curlews are the largest of North American shorebirds.

They winter on mudflats along the coasts of Mexico and the southern U.S.,

where they extract small crabs from their burrows for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Like most shorebirds, they roost and forage in flocks, often with other species.

When they are disturbed, their loud flight calls sound the alarm that a potential predator is near.

But when the birds arrive on their breeding grounds on the prairies, their hormones put them in a different mood.

It's time to leave the flock, to display, sing, mate, and nest.

And their whistles can be heard again, dropping from the sky.

Okay. heard again, dropping from the sky. For Bird Note, I'm Michael Stein.

This episode is brought to you in loving memory, a former Bird Note board member Tom Darden,

with thanks to his family for their support.