The pied avocet (''Recurvirostra avosetta'') is a large black and white

wader 245px, A flock of Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflats in order to foraging, ...

in the avocet and

stilt Stilt is a common name for several species of birds in the family Recurvirostridae, which also includes those known as avocets. They are found in brackish or saline wetlands in warm or hot climates. They have extremely long legs, hence the grou ...

family,

Recurvirostridae The Recurvirostridae are a family of birds in the wader suborder Charadrii. It contains two distinct groups of birds, the avocets (one genus) and the stilts (two genera). Description Avocets and stilts range in length from and in weight from ; ...

. They breed in temperate Europe and across the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

then on to the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asia, Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Easte ...

. It is a migratory species and most winter in Africa or southern Asia. Some remain to winter in the mildest parts of their range, for example in southern Spain and southern England. The pied avocet is one of the species to which the

Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds The Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, or African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA), is an independent international treaty developed under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme's Convent ...

(AEWA) applies.

Taxonomy

The pied avocet was one of the many bird species originally described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', where it was given the binomial name of ''Recurvirostra avosetta''. This species gets its English and

scientific name In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

s from the Venetian word ''avosetta''. It appeared first in

Ulisse Aldrovandi Ulisse Aldrovandi (11 September 1522 – 4 May 1605) was an Italian naturalist, the moving force behind Bologna's botanical garden, one of the first in Europe. Carl Linnaeus and the comte de Buffon reckoned him the father of natural history stud ...

's ''Ornithologia'' (1603). While the name may refer to black and white outfits once worn by European advocates or lawyers, the actual

etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

is uncertain. Other

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

s include black-capped avocet, Eurasian avocet or just avocet. It is one of four species of avocet that make up the genus ''Recurvirostra''. The genus name is from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''recurvus'', "curved backwards" and ''rostrum'', "bill". A 2004 study combining genetics and morphology showed that it was the most divergent species in the genus.Supplementary Material
/ref>

Description

The pied avocet is a striking white wader with bold black markings. Adults have white

plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...

except for a black cap and black patches in the wings and on the back. They have long, upturned bills and long, bluish legs. It is approximately in length of which the bill is approximately and the legs are approximately . Its wingspan is approximately . Males and females look alike. The juvenile resembles the adult but with more greyish and sepia tones. The call of the avocet is a far-carrying, liquid, melodious ''kluit kluit''.

Behaviour

These birds forage in shallow brackish water or on mud flats, often scything their bills from side to side in water (a feeding technique that is unique to the avocets). They mainly eat

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s and

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s. Their

breeding Breeding is sexual reproduction that produces offspring, usually animals or plants. It can only occur between a male and a female animal or plant. Breeding may refer to: * Animal husbandry, through selected specimens such as dogs, horses, and rab ...

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

is shallow lakes with brackish water and exposed bare mud. They nest on open ground, often in small groups, sometimes with other waders. Three to five eggs are laid in a lined scrape or on a mound of vegetation.

In Britain

The pied avocet was

extirpated Local extinction, also extirpation, is the termination of a species (or other taxon) in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinctions. Local extinctions mark a chan ...

as a breeding species in Great Britain by 1840. Its successful recolonisation at Minsmere,

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, in 1947 led to its adoption as the logo of the

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

. The pied avocet has spread inland and northwards and westwards in Britain since then and it has bred in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in 2018 at Skinflats. Avocets have been sighted wintering at Browhouses, Dumfries and Galloway.

Gallery

File:Saebelschnaebler (Recurvirostra avosetta).jpg, Adult feeding File:Recurvirostra avosetta-pjt2.jpg, Adult in flight File:Recurvirostra avosetta MHNT.JPG, Avocet egg File:Avocet from the Crossley ID Guide Britain and Ireland.jpg, ID composite File:Pied Avocet.ogv, Video showing bird seeking food File:Pied Avocet in LRK.jpg, Pied avocets in Little Runn of Kutch, India File:Skärfläckans fötter med simhud.jpg, Unlike other

s, the pied avocet has

webbed foot The webbed foot is a specialized limb (anatomy), limb with interdigital webbing, interdigital membranes (webbings) that aids in aquatic locomotion, present in a variety of tetrapod vertebrates. This adaptation is primarily found in semiaquatic sp ...

, and can swim well.

References

External links

(Pied) avocet species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
* * * * * {{Authority control pied avocet Birds of Eurasia Birds of East Africa Birds of Southern Africa Birds of North Africa Birds of South Asia pied avocet pied avocet Articles containing video clips