Pied avocet

    Recurvirostra avosetta

Castilian: Avoceta común

Catalan: Bec d'alena

Gallego: Avoceta

Euskera: Abozeta

CLASIFICACIÓN:

Orden: Charadriiformes

Family: Recurvirostridae

Migratory status: Permanent resident

CONSERVATION STATUS:

On the National List of Threatened Species, it appears in the “Of Special Interest” category. In the 2004 edition of the Red Book of Spanish Birds (Libro Rojo de las Aves de España) it is listed as “Least Concern”.

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THREATS

Loss of habitat due to the disappearance of wet areas and changes in precipitation, land predatores such as dogs, cats, and rats, and some birds (the yellow-legged gull) that produce many offspring, which has caused a marked decrease in reproduction.

Length / size: 42-46 cm / 67-77 cm

Identification: Wader that is unmistakable because of its black and white plumage, its characteristic long and upward-curved bill, and its long, bluish legs. Females have duller colours and a shorter bill; juveniles have brownish plumage and a mottled back.

Song: It makes an alarm sound, like a fluty "flueeee-flueee" which it repeats constantly, both in flight and perched. Its courtship call uses similar whistles, but shorter and overlapped in time.

Diet: It feeds on invertebrates, especially insects, earthworms, and crustaceans, which it catches by moving silt with its long bill.

Reproduction: It breeds in small colonies. The nest is build on the ground, near water, in a small depression that the bird covers with stalks, roots and leaves from nearby vegetation. Shortly after hatching, the chicks already move about and feed themselves.

HABITAT

It occupies wet areas that have shallow saltwater, such as marshes, salt marshes, or inland saltwater lagoons.

DISTRIBUTION

In Spain: During breeding season, it is concentrated in the southwest part of the peninsula, like the Guadalquivir marshes and the Bay of Cádiz; also worth mentioning are the populations in the brackish lagoons of Gallocanta and the humid areas of La Mancha, the saltwater marshes of Cabo de Gata and Santa Pola, and the Ebro Delta.

In Castile and León: The most significant breeding population is found in Villafáfila.

Movements and migrations: The postnuptial passage takes place between August and September, and it is more observable on the Atlantic coasts; the prenuptial passage takes place between March and May, but it goes largely unnoticed. Numerous specimens come from western Europe to spend the winter in our wetlands.

POPULATION

In Spain: There is an estimated population of 5500-6000 breeding pairs.

In Castile and León: There is an estimated population of 25 breeding pairs (2000 data).