avocet (redirected from pied avocets)

avocet (ăv`əsĕt), 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.

Bibliography

See P. Ehrlich et al., Birders Handbook (1988).

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avocet

American avocet (Recurvirostra americana)

(credit: Mildred Glueck from Root Resources—EB Inc.)

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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avocet

any of several long-legged shore birds of the genus Recurvirostra, such as the European R. avosetta, having black-and-white plumage and a long upward-curving bill: family Recurvirostridae, order Charadriiformes