It is a small, almost mouselike bird about 18 cm long and with a slender, slightly
decurved bill.
The scarlet honeycreeper ('i'iwi) uses its long
decurved bill to feed on nectar.
Produced rearward in the midline, tapering and decurving, its tip is coarctate, i.e., swollen distad [as noted by both Bolivar (1888) and Redtenbacher (1891)]; it ends in a strong
decurved spine in all 3 species (Figs 3, 4).
Pileus 12-24 mm, convex to broadly convex, slightly umbonate, surface smooth glabrous, wet when fresh, dark brown (7F4) to brown (7E4) on mature basidiomata, margin
decurved with abundant white velar remnants.
It was probing for food in the mud with its long
decurved bill in the company of the endemic Philippine Duck Anas luzonica and Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus.
Mouth hook (MH) sclerified, hook strong, sharp, irregularly
decurved line, apex portion abruptly turned in ventral direction; three slightly dark, shared and
decurved teeth (At) below the hook; mouth hook body with one small foramen; one small and strong mid-dorsal projection; two posterior projections, thicker dorsal one more elongated than the ventral projection.
Pileus 6.2-7.5 cm in diameter, plano-convex, obtuse broad umbo with depressed circular zone around, vinaceos red, orange buff, pinkish buff in an irregular pattern, surface smooth, viscid to semi viscid when wet, margins entire to minutely dentate,
decurved, pale brown.
Larger races of Dunlin also have a
decurved bill, so it's worth a double-check if you think you've found one.
When I first shot one, I marveled at the slender,
decurved bill.
The strongly
decurved snout, subinferior mouth, and transverse anterior lower jaw dental arcade, are shared with Mazarunia, as is also a laminar expansion of epibranchial 1 associated with the pharyngobranchiad 2 arm (character 7 in Kullander 1998).
Using identification criteria in Pyle (1997), we eliminated the similar Vaux's swift (Chaetura vauxi) based on the
decurved culmen, depth of bill of 2.35 mm, and an unflattened wing that was 122 mm in length.
complanata has multiple
decurved thin flower spikes emanating laterally from the axils of the leaves.