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American Avocet

Recurvirostra americana

Photo by HemaShah
Published on Project Noah
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38.013, -122.113

Field Notes

Description:

An elegant long billed bird with a slightly curved bill.This bird is in it's breeding plumage.
This bird was preening itself along with another bird. It looks so similar to the "Stilt"!!

Habitat:

marina

Species ID Suggestions

American Avocet

Recurvirostra americana

Comments (44)

This spotting has been disqualified from the 2017 wildlife competition as it was submitted in 2013 and therefore infringes the stated rules.
Recurvirosta means ,"backward curved beak"
Thanks so much for the ID on this one, Lenny!!!!
American Avocet has been found as far as Greenland.
Day-old avocets can walk, swim, and even dive to escape predators
Jellis .just went thru your awesome collection.
Jemma did you see my recent spottings of Mitchell Canyon. Spotted a Hermit Warbler and a Western Tanager.
Thank you so much ,Williefromwi. this is literally the first time I saw this bird.
i was fortunate to see it in it's breeding plumage.
That must be quite a sight. Paulm!!
Hi Paulm1, your lucky I never seen do that. Only move the bill back and forth just under the water.
Very similar to what Malcolm has to say.
Yes Jemma like what this says http://www.projectnoah.org/faq
Kathleen aka bird lady!! How could I forget that!
thank you for the heart warming comments, Env, Kathleen and Phillips! :))
jellis it is going to be quite a chore finding it. As far as i remember,what Malcolm said was,IF, the spotting is unidentified ,then ,you should write your own observations as description. AND that could be about 5 to 6 lines. If the spotting is known,then a few lines suffice. The facts are provide by the link. so there is no point in "repeating " them. Acccording to him,whenPN prints out the spotting,any write up more than 6 lines ,automatically gets cut off. You could check with him on this.
Jellis, I am trying to find the spotting over which I had a long discussion with Malcolm about how the write up should be. Let me remember and find it!!
I'm going back over mine since the point is to give your own observations as well as facts. I put my personal thoughts in the note section. I've found some species I observed differ from what I read in Wiki and other sites. I think that is what they would like to see.
I like to share facts. In the description I usually like to write my personal observation.
Jenna shouldn't that be in your description?
With its elegant profile and striking coloration, the American Avocet is unique among North American birds. In summer it can be found in temporary and unpredictable wetlands across western North America where it swings its long upturned bill through the shallow water to catch small invertebrates.
Thank you Gators and Madrigal
I agree with Lenny. It's in it's breeding plumage. Winter the neck would be white. Nice shot

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