Plaice Cove, Hampton, NH, 9/25/11


Sandpipers have the ability to flex their bills by rotating a triangular bone in their heads called the quadrate. This presses a bone in their bills, the jugal bar, forward causing their upper bills to curl upward. They do this when probing the sand to snatch prey from below the surface.

My thanks to Peter Trull for the explanation of this behavior.