I was watching a Western Sandpiper through my scope a few weeks ago and was
shocked to see it raise the distal third of its upper mandible up at an
angle of about 30 degrees. I had always assumed that shorebird bills
articulated from the base. It seems a wonderful adaptation to grasp prey
in the mud, but I had no idea that bills worked this way. How many of the
shorebirds can do this? Am I the last to learn of this phenomenon?

Dan Logen
Stanwood, Wa