Recurvirostra avosetta - Avocet
Feather characters. Barbules are from short until medium length (0.8-1.1 mm). Barbules are not, or only slightly pigmented. Slightly thickened nodes (19-21 per mm) are equally distributed along the entire length of barbules, only slightly decreasing in size towards distal end. Nodes may be very small in size. Villi are absent and internodes are straight. Prongs are mostly located on distal end of barbules, on both sides of the pennulum. Their length varies but the longest prongs may reach a length between half and the entire length of the adjacent internode.
Field characters. Size 43 cm. Weight 306 g (228-435) (Dunning, 1993). The snow-white plumage boldly patterned with black, the conspicuously upcurved, slender, black bill, and the long blue-grey legs make Avocet unmistakable. In juveniles black of adult more brownish. In flight, legs clearly extend beyond tail. Normal gait is a fairly brisk walk. Feeds on mud or in shallow water with a side to side swing of the upcurved bill; sometimes swims. Nests in colonies, usually on sandy flats, low and soggy meadows, etc., usually near (brackish) water.
Voice. A melodious, clear, liquid "kluut" or "kleep".
Distribution. Locally common breeding bird along the coast of the North Sea and Lake IJsselmeer. Map: see MapIt.
Habitat. In the breeding season, coastal or on inland mudflats; outside breeding season, muddy coasts, shoals, sand banks at mouths of estuaries and on inland mudflats.
Food. Diet consists mainly of invertebrates such as insects, crustaceans, and worms. Uses three feeding techniques: (a) pecking at visually located prey, (b) sweeping slightly opened bill from side to side through water or mud, (c) stirring, in which slightly opened bill is moved elliptically, at an angle of 30 degrees to ground, in shallow water.