Pied Avocet Identification
Its scientific name is 'Recurvirostra avosetta', from the family Recurvirostridae (order Charadriiformes)
What I look like
The Pied Avocet is slightly larger than the Eurasian Oystercatcher with a slim and elegant silhouette.
Its plumage is black and white.
It has long, thin, grey legs with a slight light blue tint and webbed feet.
Its bill is black, long, thin, and upturned.
In flight, it shows the characteristic black and white bands of its plumage.
The male can be identified by his longer, less curved bill and his solid black head.
The female can be identified by her shorter, more curved bill and her browner head, sometimes with a white eye-ring.
Juveniles have a dark brown pattern in their plumage, and their legs are grey.
My songs, my calls
The Pied Avocet makes contact and alarm calls in the form of a low, fluted, and nervous whistle. "plut-plut-plut-plut-plut..."
How I behave
The Pied Avocet is lively and nervous. It stretches its long neck when disturbed (such as during nesting).
It walks with a quick and graceful step.
It sometimes swims and can tip forward like a duck to search for food.
Its flight is direct and fast, with the legs extending beyond the tail and the neck slightly stretched.
It can be difficult to distinguish among gulls (like the seagulls).
How I reproduce
The Pied Avocet often nests in dense colonies due to limited territories.
It constructs a simple nest. It is a depression near the water or sometimes an islet in shallow water.
During the courtship display, the female has her head near the water while the male preens his feathers before approaching and extending a wing over the female before mating.
After mating, they run side by side for a few meters.
What I eat
The Pied Avocet feeds on invertebrates (aquatic insects, worms, and crustaceans).
It uses its slightly open bill in the water or mud with a lateral motion.
It can also simply peck on the beaches like the young who do not yet have a sufficiently upturned bill.
It is most active at dawn, dusk, and sometimes by moonlight.
It finds its food in coastal marshes, near ponds, flooded meadows, and estuaries.
Where to find me
The Pied Avocet can be found near salt lakes and shallow, salty, or brackish waters with sandbanks.
It can be sedentary in some coastal areas of France, Spain, and the Mediterranean.
It is sometimes migratory, like the populations in northern and eastern Europe that winter in Mediterranean countries and Africa.
It can live for about twenty-five years.