photo courtesy NEBRASKALand – NGPC

Recurvirostra americana
L 18″ (46 cm).

Song or calls:
Ringing “kleep, kleep.”

Description: Sexes similar. Very long gray legs and long upcurved bill are distinctive. Breeding plumage shows cinnamon colored head and neck, gray in winter plumage. Wings and back have a black and white pattern. Juveniles have cinnamon wash on head and neck.

Habitat: Found in ponds and marshes with sparsely vegetated shorelines. Nests placed on mudflats, sand bars and islands with little or no cover.

Where in Nebraska: Common regular spring and fall migrant west and central, rare east. Common, locally abundant, regular breeder west and north-central, rare casual elsewhere.

Field Notes: Male’s bill is straighter and longer than female’s

Fun Facts: American Avocets have a “recurved” bill, meaning the bill curves upward rather than downward.

 
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