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Avocets
& Stilts
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Habitat: mudflats, in saline lakes, in fresh water and
saltwater marshes and on coastal bays.
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Discription: long-legged shorebird. It is characterized
by a long, thin bill that curves upward. In the female
avocet, the bill curves up a little bit more
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Breeding: Shallow, brackish coastal lagoons, and some
freshawater marshes.
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Feeding: Avocets feed by wading in the shallow water
at the edge of a lagoon or in tidal mud. In deeper water
they swim readily and buoyantly, up-ending like a duck
to reach food below the surface.
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The American Avocet is a long-legged shorebird. It is characterized
by a long, thin bill that curves upward. In the female avocet, the
bill curves up a little bit more. This shorebird has a distinctive
black and white striped pattern on its back and sides. During the
breeding season, the head and neck are a pinkish-tan and during the
winter they are a grayish-white color. The avocet also has bluish-gray
legs and feet; thus its colloquial name, "blue shanks."
American Avocets commonly are found on mudflats, in saline lakes,
in fresh water and saltwater marshes and on coastal bays. They may
be found in migration from March to May, and again from July to October.
Their nesting grounds are in the Great Basin region of the western
United States. Locally, they breed in the Panhandle and in West Texas
on the shores of inland playas and along the Gulf coast. They winter
as far south as Mexico and Guatemala. As a protected species under
the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the only real threat to them
is the loss of breeding and wintering grounds due to habitat degradation
and destruction. |
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| Bird rescue & bird adoption;
parrot refuge/rescue & placement for unwanted birds. |
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| Check out our list of local
birds broken down by your state and different types of
species. |
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| Migrating birds stay on track
because of chemical reactions in their bodies that are
influenced by the Earth's magnetic field... |
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Part
I
March
3, 2006