The Ripley guide without mentioning a breeding plumage says " A large and long-billed, rather pale curlew with conspicuous white lower belly and vent, and no distinct head pattern; overall greyer than Far Eastern, buffier than Whimbrel, and larger and buffier than Slender-billed with much heavier bill-tip and no diamond-shaped marks on flanks. Adult (especially female) has a very long bill with orange-based lower mandible; note the more evenly light-and-dark streaks on mantle than Far Eastern, and narrower dark bars on grey-brown tertials. Juvenile is shorter-billed with rather buffy foreparts, dark mantle with narrow pale edges, and black tertials with bold buffy notches. In flight, toes extend just beyond tail-tip; has whitish rump and lower back, and from below white wing-coverts and axillaries."
I don't ever remember seeing the lower mandible being orange as described above, its always been pink when there was any color to the lower mandible.
Also note the bird in the image lacks the whitish rump and is more like the Far Eastern Curlew. Though the bird looked big, it was a solitary individual so there was nothing to compare it too. But I am not considering the Far Eastern because of the distinct white belly and vent apart from the range.
Also note the "hackles", the bird had momentarily raised it and this shot was taken when it was just smoothing it back.
On the net though I found some description for the breeding plumage.
In breeding plumage, the head, neck and upper mantle are pale buff-brown with dark streaks on the head and neck, and dark blotches and diffuse bars on the mantle. The lower back and rump are white, while the tail is barred pale brown and black-brown. The upperwings are pale buff-brown with dark blotches, and the flight feathers are very dark, almost black. The face is pale buff-brown with dark streaking, with an ill-defined supercilium, and a pale chin and upper throat. The upper breast is whitish with dark streaks, grading to heavier streaking on the lower breast, forming a bib, and streaking continues onto the belly, vent and undertail coverts. The underwing is white, variably streaked and spotted. The eyes are brown, the bill is dark horn with a pinkish or reddish base, and the legs and feet are blue-grey to olive-grey (Cramp & Simmons 1983; Urban et al. 1986; van Gils & Wiersma 1996).
In non-breeding plumage the species is similar, but duller and drabber, losing the buff tone, and the underparts below the chest become whiter, making the bib on the breast more obvious (Cramp & Simmons 1983; Urban et al. 1986; van Gils & Wiersma 1996).
The juvenile appears similar to adults in breeding plumage, except the buff tones are paler, the streaking on the underparts is finer, and the belly and vent are whiter (Cramp & Simmons 1983; Urban et al. 1986; van Gils & Wiersma 1996).
Would be thankful to experts for throwing some light on this.
-- Shot at Jamnagar, India April '10
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