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avocet

{{short description|Genus of birds}}

{{About|the bird}}

{{Automatic taxobox

|name=Avocets

|image=Pied Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta.jpg

|image_caption=Pied avocet
(Recurvirostra avosetta)

|taxon=Recurvirostra

|authority=Linnaeus, 1758

|type_species=Recurvirostra avosetta (pied avocet)

|type_species_authority=Linnaeus, 1758

|subdivision_ranks=Species

|subdivision=

  • Recurvirostra avosetta
  • Recurvirostra americana
  • Recurvirostra novaehollandiae
  • Recurvirostra andina

}}

The four species of avocets {{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|v|ə|s|ɛ|t}} are a genus, Recurvirostra, of waders in the same avian family as the stilts. The genus name comes from Latin {{lang|la|recurvus}}, 'curved backwards' and {{lang|la|rostrum}}, 'bill'.{{cite book |last=Jobling |first=James A |year=2010 |title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names |publisher=Christopher Helm |location=London |isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 |page=266 }} The common name is thought to derive from the Italian (Ferrarese) word {{lang|it|avosetta}}. Francis Willughby in 1678 noted it as the "Avosetta of the Italians".{{cite book |title=A dictionary of English and folk-names of British Birds |last=Swann |first=H. Kirke |publisher=Witherby and Co. |place=London |year=1913 |page=9 |url=https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofengl00swannhk#page/8/mode/2up }}

Biology

Avocets have long legs and long, thin, upcurved bills which they sweep from side to side when feeding in the brackish or saline wetlands they prefer. Their plumage is pied, sometimes also with some red.

Members of this genus have webbed feet and readily swim. Their diet consists of aquatic insects and other small creatures.

Avocets nest on the ground in loose colonies. In estuarine settings, they may feed on exposed bay muds or mudflats. The nest is simply a lining of grass in a hollow in the ground. They lay three or four eggs of a dark greenish or brownish buff color, boldly marked with brown and black.{{Cite web |title=THE BIRD BOOK |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/30000/pg30000-images.html#Page_139}}

The pied avocet is the emblem of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

Taxonomy

The genus Recurvirostra was introduced in 1758 by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his {{lang|la|Systema Naturae}} to contain a single species, the pied avocet, Recurvirostra avosetta.{{cite book |last=Linnaeus |first=Carl |author-link=Carl Linnaeus |year=1758 |title=Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis |volume=1 |edition=10th |page=151 |publisher=Laurentii Salvii |location=Holmiae (Stockholm) |language=la |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727058 }} The genus name combines the Latin {{lang|la|recurvus}} meaning 'bent' or 'curved backwards' with {{lang|la|rostrum}} meaning 'bill'.{{cite book |last=Jobling |first=James A. |year=2010|title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names |publisher=Christopher Helm |location=London |isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 |page=331 }}

=Species=

The genus contains four species.{{cite web|editor1-last=Gill |editor1-first=Frank |editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) |editor2-last=Donsker |editor2-first=David |editor3-last=Rasmussen |editor3-first=Pamela |editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen |date=July 2021 |title=Buttonquail, thick-knees, sheathbills, plovers, oystercatchers, stilts, painted-snipes, jacanas, Plains-wanderer, seedsnipes |work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.2 |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/buttonquail/ |publisher=International Ornithologists' Union |access-date=17 August 2021 }}

class="wikitable sortable"
scope="col" | Image

! scope="col" | Name

! scope="col" | Common name

! scope="col" | Distribution

120px

| Recurvirostra americana

| American avocet

| Central/Western United States, South Florida, Mexico, Saskatchewan, and Alberta

120px

| Recurvirostra andina

| Andean avocet

| Argentina, western Bolivia, northern Chile, and southern Peru

120px

| Recurvirostra avosetta

| Pied avocet

| Temperate Europe and Western and Central Asia

120px

| Recurvirostra novaehollandiae

| Red-necked avocet

| Australia

One fossil species, R. sanctaneboulae Mourer-Chauviré, 1978, dates from the late Eocene of France.

Range and habitat

In a large colony, they are aggressively defensive and chase off any other species of birds that try to nest among or near them. That causes the annoyed remark "Avocet: Exocet{{-"}} from some British birdwatchers.BBC TV 1 program The One Show, 7–7:30 p.m. 16 January 2008

They had been extirpated in Britain for a long time because of land reclamation of their habitat and persecution by skin and egg collectors, but during or soon after World War II, they started breeding on reclaimed land near the Wash, which was returned to salt marsh to make difficulties for any landing German invaders. Avocets use Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve as a summer breeding ground.{{Cite web |url=https://www.hants.gov.uk/thingstodo/countryparks/titchfield/explore/cottagehide |title=Cottage Hide |publisher=Hampshire County Council |language=en-GB |access-date=3 June 2019 |archive-date=3 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603163203/https://www.hants.gov.uk/thingstodo/countryparks/titchfield/explore/cottagehide |url-status=dead }}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

{{wikt|avocet}}

  • {{Commons category-inline|Recurvirostra}}

{{Charadriiformes|C.|state=collapsed}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q286072}}

Recurvirostra

Category:Wading birds