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Long-billed Curlew: Very large sandpiper with brown mottled upperparts, buff-brown underparts with dark streaks and spots. Bill is very long, decurved. Cinnamon-brown underwings visible in flight. Feeds by probing mud with bill or dunking head under water. Direct flight, steady, strong wing beats.
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Long-tailed Duck: This small duck has black upperparts, head, neck, breast and wings; brown mottled black back, white flanks, belly, under tail coverts. Long black tail with long slender feathers, pale gray mask and black bill with dark pink saddle. Feeds on aquatic insects. Female is duller, lacks long tail, and has gray bill. Swift direct flight often with erratic side-to-side turns of body.
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Long-tailed Jaeger: Smallest but most buoyant and graceful jaeger or skua, with gray upperparts, white breast and gray belly. Black cap covers eyes, crosses chin and ends at yellow nape. Upperwings are dark edged. Tail is gray with black edges and long black streamers. Legs are blue-gray and toes are webbed. Sexes are similar. Juvenile is heavily barred and spotted gray; has white patches on underwings, white throat, white belly and dark-tipped gray bill. Dark juvenile is darker overall; has gray throat and lacks white belly.
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Limpkin: Large, unique marsh bird, dark brown body, white streaks on neck, back, wings, breast. Bill is slightly decurved. Neck and legs are long. Vaguely resembles an ibis. Feeds on freshwater snails, mussels, frogs, crustaceans and insects. Direct flight with quick upstrokes and slow downstrokes.
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Little Gull: The smallest of all gulls, with pale gray upperparts and white nape, neck, breast, belly, and tail. Hood is black and extends onto upper neck. Underwings are dark. Bill is dark red with black tip. Legs and feet are red-orange. Strong direct flight with deep wing beats.
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Lapland Longspur: Medium sparrow-like bird, brown-streaked black back. Underparts are white, streaked black on sides, flanks. Crown, face, and throat are black; nape is red-brown. Broad white stripe from eye to sides of breast. Bill is yellow with dark tip. Tail is long, white edges.
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Leach's Storm-Petrel: This medium-sized petrel has a dark brown body and a white rump and under tail feathers. The wings are dark with a pale gray-brown bar on the upper wings. It has a long, dark forked tail, and a black bill, legs and feet. Its flight is bounding and erratic with frequent changes of direction and speed. It mainly feeds on fish, squid and shrimp. Sexes are similar.
The Leach's Storm-Petrel now has two subspecies, the Townsend's Storm-Petrel and Ainley's Storm-Petrel. Split in 2016 by the American Ornithologist Union. Both are outside of North America.
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Lark Bunting: Large sparrow, nearly black with large white wing patches, short, white-edged tail, and heavy, blue-gray bill. Forages in groung, low vegetation. Strong flight, alternates shallow wing beats with brief periods of wings pulled to sides. It is the state bird of Colorado.
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