Louis, April 22, Corning, April 23, Independence, May 1, and
Marionville, May 2; Illinois, Quincy, April 20, Chicago, April 21,
Liter, April 27, Fernwood, May 1, and South Englewood, May 3; Indiana,
Waterloo, April 27, and Kouts, April 30; Michigan, Ann Arbor, April 1,
Detroit, May 1, and Iron Mountain, May 2; Ontario, Toronto, May 25;
Iowa, Emmetsburg, April 24, Gilbert Station, April 27, Marshalltown, May
2, Sioux City, May 5, and Keokuk, May 6; Wisconsin, Delavan, April 26,
North Freedom, April 29, and Whitewater, May 6; Minnesota, Heron Lake,
May 8, Wilder, May 8, Hallock, May 9, and Waseca, May 12; northern
Texas, Gainesville, May 6, and Huntsville, May 7; Kansas, Emporia, April
23, Paola, April 28, Onaga, April 29, and Wichita, April 30; Nebraska,
Dunbar, April 5, Badger, April 18, Callaway, April 19, Lincoln, April
22, and Valentine, May 1; South Dakota, Harrison, April 29, Vermilion,
April 29, Forestburg, May 1, Pitrodie, May 3, and Huron, May 4; North
Dakota, Menoken, May 1, Bismarck, May 3, Charlson, May 4, Antler, May
10, Cando, May 17, and Westhope, May 18; Manitoba, Oak Lake, April 27,
Shoal Lake, May 7, Reaburn, May 16, and Winnipeg, May 22; Saskatchewan,
Indian Head, May 12, Dinsmore, May 13, and Osier, May 19; New Mexico,
Albuquerque, April 20, and Aragon, April 21; Arizona, Tucson, April 12;
Colorado, Denver, April 25, Durango, April 25, Loveland, April 27,
Boulder, May 3, and Salida, May 4; Wyoming, Lake Como, May 6, near
Cokeville, May 7, Yellowstone Park, May 11, and Cheyenne, May 19; Idaho,
Meridian, May 14; Montana, Billings, April 30, Great Falls, May 9, Fort
Keogh, May 10, Big Sandy, May 14, and Terry, May 21; Alberta, Beaverhill
Lake, May 7, Alliance, May 18, Veteran, May 22, and Stony Plain, May 23;
California, Santa Barbara, April 26, Unlucky Lake, April 28, and
Stockton, May 2; Nevada, Steptoe Valley, May 12, Washoe Lake, May 19,
and Quinn River, May 20; and Oregon, Klamath Lake, April 30, Narrows,
May 1, and Lawen, May 20.
_Fall migration._--Late dates of fall departure are: Oregon, Malheur
Lake, September 5; California, Santa Barbara, September 8, and near San
Francisco, September 9; Montana, Milk River, July 21, and Great Falls,
August 15; Utah, Great Salt Lake, September 16; Wyoming, Seven-mile
Lake, September 14, and Yellowstone Park, September 27; Colorado,
Denver, September 12; Arizona, Fort Verde, September 7; Saskatchewan,
Ravine Bank, August 25; North Dakota, Grafton, September 11, and
Westhope, September 24; South Dakota, Forestburg, August 13, Harrison,
September 12, and Sioux Falls, October 14; Nebraska, Badger, August 30,
and Gresham, September 1; Kansas, Emporia, August 31; Texas, Tivoli,
September 14, and Corsicana, September 12; Minnesota, Lanesboro,
September 13; Michigan, Kalamazoo County, September 8; and Ontario, near
Toronto, September 23.
_Casual records._--Although essentially a western species the Wilson
phalarope has many times been detected in eastern localities. Among
these are: Alabama, Bayou la Batre, September 5, 1911; South Carolina,
Sullivans Island, September 7, 1910; North Carolina, near Church Island,
August 25, 1910, and Currituck Light House, September 14, 1911; New
Jersey, Ocean City, May 19, 1898, and Cape May, May 4, 1909; New York,
Mastic, September 21, 1918, and August 23, 1920, Shinnecock, August
20, 1883, and August 15, 1885, Far Rockaway, October 10, 1874, East
River, October 15, 1879, Onondaga Lake, September 2, 1886, Oneida Lake,
October 6, 1883, Ithaca, fall of 1892, Atlanticville, August 15, 1885,
and June 1, 1887, and Bronx Park, September 21, 1924; Connecticut,
Bridgeport (Linsley); Rhode Island, Newport, August 2, 1880, August 20,
1883 and September 13, 1886, Sakonnet, August 24, 1899, and
Quonochontaug, August 28, 1909; Massachusetts, Chatham, October 19,
1888, Nantucket, August 31, 1889, Nahant, May, 1874, Salisbury and
Boston (Townsend); New Hampshire, Rye Beach, August 15, 1872; Maine,
Sabattus Pond, September or October, 1906, and Scarborough, June 9,
1881; and Quebec, Montreal, August, 1869. It also has been taken in
British Columbia, Chilliwack, September 9, 1888, and Osoyoos Lake, May
15, 1922 and May 18, 1922. It has been detected a few times in Lower
California, La Paz (date?), and San Jose del Cabo, one in spring and
another in August, 1887.
_Egg dates._--Saskatchewan and Alberta: 51 records, May 16 to June 24;
26 records, June 5 to 11. Dakotas: 23 records, May 25 to June 22; 12
records, June 3 to 12. Colorado and Utah: 20 records, May 15 to July 10;
10 records, May 25 to June 8. California: 50 records, May 21 to June 22;
25 records, June 2 to 7.
Family RECURVIROSTRIDAE, Avocets and Stilts
RECURVIROSTRA AMERICANA Gmelin
AMERICAN AVOCET
HABITS
Wherever this large, showy bird is found it is always much in evidence.
Its large size and conspicuous colors could hardly be overlooked, even
if it were shy and retiring; but its bold, aggressive manners force it
upon our attention as soon as we approach its haunts. Localities and
conditions best suited to its needs are still to be found in many places
on the great plains and in the interior valleys of the far west. Its
favorite resorts seem to be the shallow, muddy borders of alkaline
lakes, wide open spaces of extensive marshes, where scanty vegetation
gives but little concealment, or broad wet meadows splashed with shallow
pools. If the muddy pools are covered with reeking scum, attracting
myriads of flies, so much the better for feeding purposes. Dry,
sun-baked mud flats or low, gravelly or sandy islands, with scanty
vegetation, furnish the desired nesting conditions. In such open spaces
they can be seen from afar and, long before we reach their haunts, the
avocets are flying out to meet us, advertising the fact that we are
approaching their home, making the air ring with their loud yelping
notes of protest, circling about us and darting down at us in
threatening plunges.
_Courtship._--Prof. Julian S. Huxley (1925), who has made a study of the
European species, says:
The avocet has no courtship. There are no songs or aerial displays;
no posturing by the male; no mutual ceremonies; no special
courtship notes. There is some hostility and fighting; a peculiar
action by the female which is a symbol of readiness to pair,
followed by an excited action on the part of the male; and a
special post-paring action by both birds; but of courtship in any
accepted sense none whatever.
However that may be, our bird does indulge in actions and posturings
which look very much like courtship. On May 29, 1905, we spent some time
in watching the avocets in a colony on an alkali flat covered with a
sparse growth of short, curly grass, near Hay Lake in southwestern
Saskatchewan. We could not find any nests there at that time and
concluded that the birds had not laid. They were apparently still
conducting their courtships, wading about gracefully in the shallow
water, frequently bowing or crouching down close to the water; sometimes
they danced about with wings widespread, tipping from side to side like
a balancing tight-rope walker; occasionally one, perhaps a female in an
attitude of invitation, would lie prostrate on the ground or water for a
minute or more, with the head and neck extended and wings outstretched.
Frequently they fooled us by squatting down on the ground, as if sitting
on a nest; if we went to investigate, they would run away and repeat the
act elsewhere; perhaps this act carried the suggestion of mating as a
part of the courtship ceremony.
_Nesting._--We found no large breeding colonies in Saskatchewan but
several small ones. The Hay Lake colony referred to above was perhaps
the largest, containing 15 or 20 pairs. The nests, found here on June
15, were merely slight hollows in the sun-baked mud on the broad alkali
flats bordering the shallow lake; they were scattered widely among the
little tufts of short grass which scantily covered the flat; the hollows
measured from 3 to 4 inches in diameter and were lined with a few dry
grasses. Some of the nests were well formed and somewhat elevated.
Although in plain sight, the eggs were not easy to find, as they matched
their surroundings perfectly.
On June 14, 1906, we found an interesting little colony of avocets on an
island in Big Stick Lake, Saskatchewan, which was also occupied by big
colonies of California and ring-billed gulls, common terns, a few
spotted sandpipers, and a few pairs of ducks. The avocets, terns, and
sandpipers were all at one end of the island, a low grassy point; the
ring-billed gulls and ducks were in the central, highest part; and the
California gull colony was at the other end. The avocets' nests, ten or
a dozen of them, were placed in the short grass near the edge of the
beach or on the drift weed lying in windrows on the beach; one nest was
partially under a fallen shrub or bushy weed. The nests were made of
grasses, weed stems, straws and small sticks, with sometimes a few
feathers, loosely arranged around small hollows, from 5 to 7 inches in
diameter. Two of the nests held five eggs, the others three or four.
Robert B. Rockwell (1912) found an interesting colony of avocets on an
island in Barr Lake, Colo., of which he says:
The nests were all located in very similar locations, among a young
growth of cockle burrs not over six inches in height and which had
probably grown at least half of that since the eggs were laid. The
cockle burrs formed a belt about 10 yards wide clear around the
island just below the dense blue-stem and other rank grass with
which the Island was covered and on ground that was under water
during the high water of the spring although inundated for a short
time only. Two of the nests were very crude affairs, being a mere
shallow hollow in the sand with a very few dead weed stalks of
short lengths arranged around the eggs. The other was constructed
in the same manner, but was quite well lined with weed stems, so
that the eggs did not touch the ground. There was no evident
attempt at concealment, the nests all being placed in small open
spaces from six inches to a foot in diameter, and with nothing to
protect them; but the color of the eggs was sufficient protection
to make them quite inconspicuous.
Dr. Alexander Wetmore (1925) writes:
The sites chosen often are subject to inundation by sudden floods,
when the birds scurry about, seemingly in confusion, but in reality
working actively to build up the nest in order to support the eggs
above the level of the encroaching water. In some cases it may be
necessary to erect a structure 12 or 15 inches in height. Weeds,
small sticks, bones, or dried bodies of ducks or other birds,
feathers, or any other materials available are utilized as building
materials.
_Eggs._--The American avocet lays three or four eggs, usually four and
occasionally five. Numerous nests have been found containing seven or
eight eggs, but these are probably products of two females. Edwin
Beaupré writes to me that, in a colony of five pairs found by him on an
island in a small lake in southern Alberta, the five pairs were
occupying three nests; one contained eight eggs, another seven and the
third four. The eggs vary in shape from ovate (rarely) to ovate pyriform
and they are usually much elongated. The shell is smooth, but not
glossy. The ground color varies from "Isabella color" to "deep olive
buff." This is more or less evenly covered with irregular spots and
blotches, in various sizes, of brownish black, blackish brown, or black,
rarely "warm sepia" or "bister"; there are occasionally a few blackish
scrawls, and numerous underlying spots of various shades of drab. The
measurements of 55 eggs average 49.8 by 34 millimeters; the eggs showing
the four extremes measure =56.3= by 34.6, 51.5 by =36.6=, =43.2= by 33.4
and 47 by =31= millimeters.
_Young._--The period of incubation of the American bird has apparently
not been determined, but that of the European bird is said to be 28
days. I have no data as to how the sexes incubate. Young avocets are
very precocial and leave the nest soon after hatching. They are expert
at hiding, even on the open flats and beaches; and they take to the
water at an early age, where they can swim and dive like young ducks. I
have seen a brood of four young, that could not have been hatched more
than a few hours, swimming out in a lake, as if very much at ease. They
soon learn to tip up in shallow water and probe on the bottom, like
their parents, for their insect food.
_Plumages._--The downy young avocet is well colored for concealment on
an open beach or alkaline flat. The colors of the upper parts are
"cinnamon buff," "cream buff," and buffy grays, lightest on the crown
and darkest on the rump; there is a distinct but narrow loral stripe of
black; the crown is indistinctly spotted with dusky. Two parallel
stripes of brownish black distinctly mark the scapulars and two more the
sides of the rump; the wings, back, rump, and thighs are less distinctly
spotted or peppered with gray and dusky. The under parts are buffy
white, nearly pure white on the throat and belly.
In fresh juvenal plumage the crown is "light drab" with "pinkish buff"
tips; the sides and back of the neck are deep, rich "cinnamon," deeper
and richer than in the adult, shading off, on the upper back, throat,
and upper breast, to a suffusion of "pinkish buff"; the chin and belly
are white; the color pattern of the upper parts is similar to that of
the adult, except that the dark feathers of the back, scapulars, and
tertials are tipped with "pinkish buff"; and the greater and median wing
coverts are narrowly so tipped.
This plumage is worn through the summer and fall without much change
except by extensive fading and some wear. The cinnamon has nearly
disappeared in September birds and all the buff edgings have faded or
worn away. A body molt takes place in late winter or early spring which
produces a first nuptial plumage much like the adult. Young birds can,
however, be recognized by the worn primaries and by some of the juvenal
scapulars and wing coverts. The first postnuptial molt, the following
summer, is complete and produces the adult winter plumage.
Adults have a complete postnuptial molt, beginning in August, and a
partial prenuptial molt, beginning in January, which involves the body
plumage and some of the scapulars and wing coverts. The "cinnamon"
colors of the head and neck are characteristic of the nuptial plumage
and are replaced by pale gray in winter adults.
_Food._--The feeding habits of the avocet are rather peculiar, as might
be expected of a bird with such a peculiar bill. The bill is not so
sharply upturned in life, as it is in some stuffed specimens and in some
drawings. Dr. Frank M. Chapman (1891) has explained it very well, as
follows:
The use of the avocet's recurved bill is clearly explained by the
manner in which the bird procures its food. In feeding they wade
into the water and drop the bill below the surface until the
convexity of the maxilla probably touches the bottom. In this
position they move forward at a half run and with every step the
bill is swung from side to side sweeping through an arc of about
50° in search of shells and other small aquatic animals. The
mandibles are slightly opened, and at times the birds pause to
swallow their prey. It is evident that birds with a straight or a
downward curved bill could not adopt this method of feeding.
Audubon (1840) describes it, as follows:
They search for food precisely in the manner of the roseate
spoonbill, moving their heads to and fro sideways, while their bill
is passing through the soft mud; and in many instances, when the
water was deeper, they would immerse their whole head and a portion
of the neck, as the spoonbill and red-breasted snipe are wont to
do. When, on the contrary, they pursued aquatic insects, such as
swim on the surface, they ran after them, and on getting up to
them, suddenly seized them by thrusting the lower mandible beneath
them, while the other was raised a good way above the surface, much
in the manner of the black shear water, which, however, performs
this act on wing. They were also expert at catching flying insects,
after which they ran with partially expanded wings.
Doctor Wetmore (1925) found that, in 67 stomachs examined, animal food
amounted to 65.1 per cent and vegetable food 34.9 per cent. Among the
animal food were found phyllopods, dragonfly nymphs, back swimmers,
water boatmen, various beetles and flies and their larvae. The vegetable
matter consisted largely of seeds of marsh or aquatic plants. He says
further:
Flocks of the birds search for food scattered about in shallow
water, and do not hesitate to swim when necessary in crossing the
deeper channels. Frequently a dozen or more feed in company,
walking slowly along, shoulder to shoulder, as though in drill
formation, at each forward step thrusting the head under water and
sweeping the recurved bill along the bottom with a scythelike swing
that must arouse consternation among water boatmen and other
aquatic denizens of the bays and ponds. At times the writer has
observed as many as 300 of these handsome birds feeding thus in a
single company, a scene at once spirited and striking. As the birds
feed much of the time by immersing the head, anything that may
touch the bill is gathered indiscriminately, as in feeding they
depend upon the sense of touch. From their manner of feeding,
avocets are often scavengers, taking living or recently dead prey
without much choice. The large tapeworms found almost without fail
in the duodenum of the avocet are transmitted from one bird to
another in this manner. The cast-off terminal segments of the worms
(bearing the eggs) are picked up and swallowed by other avocets, a
proceeding which the writer has personally observed. Avocets also
pick up matter floating in the water, on or near the surface, or
take insects and seeds from mud bars. The insects may be those
living in such localities or may be individuals that have been
washed up in drift.
Other observers have reported avocets as feeding on grasshoppers,
predaceous diving beetles, crickets, centipedes, weevils, small snails,
sea slugs, small crustaceans, and even small fishes.
_Behavior._--Avocets are at all times tame and unsuspicious, very
solicitous and aggressive on their breeding grounds, quiet and
indifferent at other times, showing only mild curiosity. Their
demonstrations of anxiety on their nesting grounds, particularly if they
have young, are amusing and ludicrous. Utterly regardless of their own
safety, they meet the intruder more than half way and stay with him till
he leaves. W. Leon Dawson (1909) has described it very graphically, as
follows:
The mother bird had flushed at a hundred yards, but seeing our
position she flew toward us and dropped into the water some 50 feet
away. Here she lifted a black wing in simulation of maimed
stiffness, and flopped and floundered away with the aid of the
other one. Seeing that the ruse failed, she ventured nearer and
repeated the experiment, lifting now one wing and now both in token
of utter helplessness. After a while the male joined her, and we
had the painful spectacle of a crippled family, whose members were
uttering most doleful cries of distress, necessitated apparently by
their numerous aches and breaks. Once, for experiment's sake, we
followed, and the waders flopped along in manifest delight coaxing
us up on shore and making off through the sagebrush with broken
legs and useless wings. But we came back, finding it better to let
the birds make the advances. The birds were driven to the very
limit of frenzy, dancing, wing trailing, swaying, going through
last convulsions and beginning over again without regard to logical
sequence, all in an agony of effort to divert attention from those
precious eggs. As time elapsed, however, the color of the play
changed. Finding that the appeal of cupidity was of no avail, the
birds appeared to fall back upon the appeal to pity. Decoying was
useless, that was plain; so they stood with upraised wings,
quivering and moaning, in tenderest supplication. It was too much
even for conscious rectitude and we withdrew abashed.
The flight of the avocet is strong, direct and rather swift, much like
that of the greater yellow legs, with neck and legs fully extended, fore
and aft. It can alight on or rise from the surface of the water with
ease. On alighting its long, black and white wings are raised above its
back, and slowly folded, as it settles itself with a nodding motion of
the head, stands still and looks about it for a moment or two. No bird
is better equipped for the amphibious existence that it leads; its long
legs and webbed feet enable it to wade through soft muddy shallows of
varying depths; and if it suddenly steps beyond its depth it swims as
naturally as a duck until it strikes bottom again; the thick plumage of
its under parts protects it and marks it as an habitual swimmer. It
often feeds while swimming by tipping up like a surface-feeding duck and
reaching down into the water with its long neck and bill. It can even
dive when necessary.
Dr. Walter P. Taylor (1912) says that avocets "share with most other
birds a dislike of owls. Three were seen pursuing a _Speotyto_ over a
wild hay meadow."
Dr. T. Gilbert Pearson (1916) noted an interesting flight maneuver:
Only a few weeks ago I was impressed anew with the beauty of these
birds. While passing down the valley of Crane Creek, in
southeastern Oregon, a flock of about 50 avocets arose and indulged
in a series of evolutions which even the most casual observer would
have paused to watch. In a fairly compact company they flew away
for a short distance, then turned, and, after coming back almost to
the starting point, dived toward the earth, arose again perhaps 50
yards in the air, then swung around and came back. These maneuvers
were repeated at least three times. Their white and black plumage,
flashing against the gray sagebrush of the desert mountain side,
and sharply relieved as they skimmed over the alkaline creek, made
a picture long to be remembered.
Charles E. H. Aiken (1914)
witnessed a curious performance of avocets in Utah. In September,
1893, he visited the mouth of Bear River where hundreds of acres of
mud flats and shallow water offer an attractive resort for various
water fowl. In a submerged grove where patches of mud appeared
above the water hundreds of avocets were congregated. One little
mud island that differed from others in that it was quite round
seemed to have a fascination for the birds, and they were packed
together upon it in a mass which covered the island to the water's
edge. As the island was about 12 feet in circumference the number
of birds probably approximated 150. This mass of birds continued to
revolve about from left to right, and being so crowded the movement
was rather slow and their steps short and measured, so that the
impression was that they were all marking time in the marching.
Birds on the rim of the circle avoided walking off in the water and
crowded inward against the mass. Every moment or two birds would
leave the milling body and fly to a neighboring mud island, and as
many from near-by would fly to take their places and join the
dance. Aiken advanced quietly to within 20 yards and viewed them
for half an hour, but they continued undisturbed by his presence
and he left them so. It appeared to be a diversion of the birds.
John G. Tyler contributes the following:
The avocet is evidently possessed of a very keen sense of hearing.
On May 21, 1921, I discovered three or four pairs in an overflowed
pasture not far from Fresno. Driving my car up to within about 100
feet of them I allowed my engine to die and sat perfectly
motionless. In about 15 minutes the birds had become thoroughly
accustomed to my presence and one bird finally took up a position
on a small levee, tucked its bill under the feathers of its back,
closed its eyes, and after raising the right leg and drawing it up
close to the body, stood absolutely motionless and apparently
asleep for several minutes. It was very much awake, however, for
when I whistled softly through my teeth, making a rather squeaking
noise, it immediately straightened up, opened its eyes, and gazed
about in apparent astonishment. As I remained motionless the bird
soon settled down and in the course of the next few moments I
repeated the same experiment always with the same results. So long
as one remains seated in the automobile and makes no noticeable
movement it is possible to make close observation of these and
several other species of shore birds, but the slightest movement or
an attempt to get out of the car sends them away in the wildest
confusion.
_Voice._--The avocet's vocabulary is not so elaborate as it is
impressive. The commonest note, heard on the breeding grounds as a note
of alarm or protest, is a loud, shrill whistle or yelping scream, which
I have recorded in my notes as _wheat, wheat, wheat_. Others have
recorded it as _plee-eek, plee-eek_, or _click, click, click_. It is
always sharp and vehement, implying anger. I have also heard a softer
note, uttered in a conversational tone, like _whick, whick, whick_, or
_whuck, whuck, whuck_.
Aretas A. Saunders contributes the following notes: