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American Avocet | Recurvirostra americana
Amerikaanse kluut | Avoceta americana
The American Avocet is a large, slender shorebird with black-and-white plumage, long blue-grey legs and a thin, upturned bill. It breeds in western North America and in the Caribbean is mainly a scarce winter visitor. Only in Cuba is it present year-round, with confirmed breeding.
Voice
A loud, nasal wheet or kleet, often repeated, especially when disturbed and in flight. Usually silent in winter.
Recording: Craig Robertson — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
43–47 cm, with a long neck and a thin, black, distinctly upcurved bill. Back and wings are patterned black and white: two broad black bands run along the back and the wing has a large white patch, the rest of the body is white. In breeding plumage the head, neck and breast are warm rusty orange; in non-breeding plumage, in which most birds in the region are seen, these are white with a grey wash. The female has a shorter, more strongly curved bill than the male. In flight the legs project well beyond the tail and the black-and-white wing pattern is visible at long range.
Confusion species
Black-necked Stilt Himantopus mexicanus is black above and white below, with a straight needle-like bill and much longer pink legs. Marbled Godwit Limosa fedoa can forage in similar small groups at a distance, but is warm brown, with a thicker two-toned bill and no black and white in the wing.
Habitat
Shallow, often saline or brackish water with bare margins: salt pans, lagoons, tidal flats, inland saline lakes and flooded rice fields. It forages by wading through shallow water and sweeping the bill sideways through the water and the top layer of mud, and also picks prey from the surface. It eats mainly small crustaceans, insect larvae and other invertebrates. Often in small groups, sometimes among other shorebirds.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
In Cuba fairly scarce but present year-round, mainly in salt pans and lagoons along the coast and on the cays; breeding has been confirmed there. In the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Cayman Islands a scarce to irregular winter visitor, sometimes staying long at one site. In Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and Anguilla a rare winter visitor. Elsewhere in the Lesser Antilles, on the ABC islands and on Tobago a vagrant. Beyond the region it breeds in western and central North America and winters along the coasts of the United States and Mexico, in smaller numbers south to Central America.
- Resident
- Summer visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- Winter visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Best looked for in the salt pans and lagoons of Cuba and the Bahamas, where the birds feed in shallow water among other shorebirds. A group of avocets stands out at a distance because the birds walk and sweep in the same rhythm. The upturned bill is only clearly visible at closer range; in flight the wing pattern is the most reliable feature.
Conservation status
Not threatened. The world population is considered stable. In the Caribbean numbers are small, and the species here depends on undisturbed salt pans and lagoons; filling and building on such coastal wetlands is the main threat.
Scientific name
Recurvirostra americana | Gmelin, 1789
Gmelin described the species in 1789 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Recurvirostra was introduced in 1758 by Linnaeus. Recurvirostra is Latin, from recurvus 'curved backwards' and rostrum 'bill', after the upturned bill. americana is Latin for 'American'. The specimen the first description was based on came from North America.