Overview

Avocet: Large shorebird with very thin, upturned bill. Mostly white with black patches in wings, on head, and on nape. Bill black, long legs gray. Feeds by sweeping distinctive bill from side to side in shallow, briny water or mud. Legs project during strong, swift flight.

Avocet: Both a migrant and a resident breeder in England. Found breeding along the east coast in summer; migrants head for the southwest coastline in winter. Can be seen wading in mudflats, lagoons, sandy beaches and estuaries. Some birds winter in Africa.

Bernard Sound

Avocet 1

Call is a loud, repeated "wheep."

Avocet 2

Chattering.

Voice Text

"wheep"

• In Great Britain the Avocet became extinct in 1840. It was successfully recolonized at Minsmere, Suffolk in 1947, which led to its adoption as the logo of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
• The English and scientific names are from the Venetian word avosetta and may refer to black and white outfits of European lawyers and advocates.
• 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.
• A group of avocets are collectively known as a "colony" of avocets.

• Oystercatcher
• Black-winged Stilt

Auks, Murres and Puffins (Alcidae)

ORDER

The CHARADRIIFORMES (pronounced kah-RAH-dree-ih-FOR-meez) is a taxonomic order of nineteen families including the gulls, sandpipers, plovers, and auks (more commonly known as “Alcids").

FAMILY TAXONOMY

The Alcidae (pronounced AL-sih-dee) family is composed of twenty-three species of Alcids in eleven genera, all occurring in the cold waters of the Northern Hemisphere (IOC World Bird List, version 2.3).

EUROPE

Twelve species of Alcids in ten genera have occurred in Europe including the clown-like puffin, the murres and murrelets, the diminutive Little Auk, and the flightless, extinct Great Auk.

KNOWN FOR

Members of the Alcidae are known for their penguin-like appearance despite being unrelated to this family.

PHYSICAL

Small to medium in size, Alcids are plump, short-tailed duck-like birds with webbed feet on short legs. Unlike the extinct Great Auk, other Alcids have thin, medium-length wings used for rapid, buzzing flight. Bill shape varies among species from the short and stubby beak of the Dovekie to the thin, medium-length bills of murres and murrelets, and the narrow, arched bills of the puffins.

COLORATION

Most Alcid species are black on the upperparts and white on the underparts or all dark, exceptions being the guillemots (with white wing patches), and the mottled brown breeding plumages of the Marbled and Kittlitz’s Murrelets of the north Pacific. Some species have bright colours such as orange, yellow, and red on head plumes and on their bills.

GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT

The Alcidae are maritime birds mostly found off the Atlantic coast with two species also occurring in the western Mediterranean during the winter. In Europe, they breed in northwestern and northern Europe and winter south to Spain and northwestern Africa.

MIGRATION

Several Alcid species migrate short distances to escape the harsh winters of their breeding grounds.

HABITS

Most Alcids are social birds nesting in dense colonies on cliffs or in burrows, some species flying to and from their nests at night to evade predatory gulls. While foraging, they often flock together and dive from the surface for small fish and crustaceans. Like penguins, they use their wings to propel themselves underwater.

CONSERVATION

Although no Alcids are threatened in Europe, four species that occur in western North America are endangered. These are the Marbled Murrelet, the Craveri’s Murrelet, the Xantus’s Murrelet and the critically endangered Kittlitz’s Murrelet. All are threatened by habitat loss and pollution.

INTERESTING FACTS

Unrelated to penguins, alcids are their northern ecological equivalent. Although auks can fly (unlike flightless penguins), they are much more at home in the water, and have limited mobility on land. The one auk species that did lose the ability to fly was the Great Auk. Unfortunately, it was driven to extinction in the nineteenth century by hunting and harvesting of its eggs.

Artist

Michael Oberhofer