25 May, Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, Orange County, California. This is the same bird as previous. This photo suggests the sweeping action of the unique bill as the bird forages in shallow waters. This tactile foraging method is called scything and three methods of scything have been described: single scything, multiple scything, and dabble scything. Single scything is the most common. The bill is held open slightly and swept sideways once between each forward step. Multiple scything involves multiple sweeps without raising the bill between steps. Dabble scything is the same as single scything but the bird is swimming, not walking. Other foraging methods include pecking, plunging, snatching, bill pursuit, filtering, and scraping. The first three of these are visual and the others tactile. Their diet varies depending on the habitat and type of substrate. This bird was in a brackish impoundment where its diet includes invertebrates such as polychaetes as well as vertebrates (small fish). Panasonic DMC-LZ5 / Nikon FS 3 / 30XWA / hand-held, no adapter.