avocet

avocet, common name for a long-legged wading bird about 15 to 18 in. (37.5-45 cm) long, related to the snipe and belonging to the same family as the stilt. The American avocet or blacknecked stilt, Himantopus mexicanus, and the Australian avocet have black and white bodies and brown heads; the African and Eurasian species are black and white and are strikingly visible at distances. Avocets, like stilts, are wetland inhabitants. By sweeping their long, thin, upwardly curved bills through shallow water and mud, they capture small water animals, such as crustaceans, mollusks, amphibians, fishes, and insects; other insects are caught on the wing. Avocets have shrill calls, but also have a soft flutelike song. They breed gregariously. The female lays from three to five eggs per clutch in a shallow depression in the ground, which may be lined with small stones and grass. Avocets are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves, order Charadriiformes, family Recurvirostridae.

Any of several large shorebirds (genus Recurvirostra) with boldly contrasting plumage, long bluish legs, and a long black bill upturned at the tip. Avocets inhabit fresh and salt marshes that have areas of open shallow water and mudflats, and feed by sweeping the partly open bill in the shallows. They often wade together to corral minnows and crustaceans. Four avocet species are found in temperate and tropical regions worldwide. The American avocet is about 18 in. (45 cm) long, including the bill.

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The four species of Avocets are waders in the same avian family as the stilts. They are found in warm or hot climates.

They have long legs and long, thin, upcurved bills (giving their scientific name Recurvirostra) which they sweep from side to side when feeding in the brackish or saline wetlands they prefer. The plumage is pied, sometimes also with some red.

The avocets have webbed feet and they will readily swim. Their diet consists of aquatic insects and other small creatures.

They nest on the ground in loose colonies. In estuarine settings they may feed on exposed bay muds or mudflats.

The Pied Avocet is the emblem of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

The four species, all in the genus Recurvirostra, are:

• Pied Avocet, Recurvirostra avosetta
• American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana
• Red-necked Avocet, Recurvirostra novaehollandiae
• Andean Avocet, Recurvirostra andina

In a large colony they are aggressively defensive and chase off any other species of birds that try to nest among or near them. That causes the annoyed remark "Avocet : Exocet" from some British birdwatchers.

They had been extinct in Britain for a long time because of land reclamation of their habitat and persecution by skin and egg collectors, but during or soon after World War II started breeding on reclaimed land near the Wash which was returned to salt marsh to make difficulties for any landing German invaders.

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