Pied Avocet
Recurvirostra avosetta
With its fine, upturned bill it sweeps from side to side through shallow water, locating its prey by touch. Its contrasting black-and-white plumage makes it unmistakable even at a distance.
- Group
- Waders & Waterbirds
- Photos
- 1
- Taken
- 2026
Profile: Pied Avocet
- Family
- Avocets and stilts (Recurvirostridae)
- Size
- approx. 42–46 cm
- Wingspan
- approx. 67–80 cm
- Weight
- approx. 290–400 g
- Habitat
- Shallow saline and brackish waters, mudflats, lagoons and salt marshes on the coast.
- Diet
- Small crustaceans, worms and insect larvae, which it sieves from water or mud with its bill.
- When to see
- Depending on the region, anything from resident to long-distance migrant. Birds breeding on the North Sea coast mostly leave from October for the Atlantic coasts of France and Iberia; in mild winters some stay in the Wadden Sea.
Learn more: Wikipedia · NABU (German)