North American records of this beautiful bird with its extraordinary bill are growing woefully less. A small colony in "Big Cypress Swamp", Florida, is being protected by the Audubon Society but death tips many an arrow when "Pink Curlews" appear.
They are gregarious and fly with slow wing strokes, sometimes in wedge formation. They feed mostly at night in salt water lagoons and strain crustaceans with a lateral motion of the mandibles. They associate with Ibises and frequently nest in company. Old birds are silent but young whistle anxiously when parents approach with food.
NEST — a platform of sticks, more or less hollowed and lined with moss and bark strips, located in dense swamps, in mangroves or other trees.
EGGS — 2 to 5, usually 3; dull white spotted and blotched with shades of brown.
Gulf Coast of North America, east to Florida.