Description:
A large black and white wader
with a pinkish head and neck. It has a very slender black upturned bill,
very long pale blue legs and the front toes are webbed. The call is a
kleep, kleep, sound, repeated several times.
Remarks:
The American Avocet breeds in
southern and central Alberta, east of the Rockies and south of Edmonton and
Beaverhill Lake. In the nineteenth century specimens were found as far north
as Lesser Slave Lake and Fort Chipewyan.
Avocets arrive in Alberta early
in May, and gather in flocks of up to one hundred birds. Noisy courtship
activities will take place in these loose colonies, and nests will be made
by the end of the month. The nest is a depression in the ground usually on
dried-out mud shores or islands of shallow lakes or sloughs. Several nesting
pairs may be found very close together and two female may even share one
nest, and will take turns in the incubation of the eggs. The eggs are dark
olive to light brown spotted with dark brown and lavender. 3 to 5 eggs will
be layed by each female so the nest may contain up to 8 to 10 eggs. |