American Avocet
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: ArdeRecurvirostridaeidae
Genus: Recurvirostra
Species: americana
**American Avocet Audio Below**
Description
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Length: 18"
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Wing span: 31"
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Weight: 11 oz. (315 grams)
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Large shorebird with very long grey legs
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Long black upturned bill
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Sexes look alike but the female is slightly smaller with a shorter and more curved bill
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Juvenile is very similar to adult in non-breeding plumage
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Nonbreeding plumage: Pale head and neck, white body, and black wings with white stripes
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Breeding plumage: Light rust colored head, white body, and black wings with white stripes
Factoids:
- With its elegant profile and striking coloration, the American Avocet is unique among North American birds. In summer it can be found in temporary and unpredictable wetlands across western North America where it swings its long upturned bill through the shallow water to catch small invertebrates
- In response to predators, the American Avocet sometimes issues a series of call notes that gradually changes pitch, simulating the Doppler effect and thus making its approach seem faster than it actually is
- A female American Avocet may lay one to four eggs in the nest of another female, who then incubates the eggs. American Avocets may parasitize other species' nests too; single American Avocet eggs have been found in the nests of Mew Gulls
- Avocets have incubated mixed clutches of their own eggs and those of Common Terns or Black-necked Stilts. The avocets reared the stilt hatchlings as if they were their own
- American Avocet chicks leave the nest within 24 hours after hatching. Day-old avocets can walk, swim, and even dive to escape predators
All photographs and audio clips are ©Jamie Mullin 2006
Sources: Cornell Lab of Ornithology & The Sibley Guide to Birds.
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