calling a short staccato call that sounded like _pink, pink, pink_.
One bird pretended wounded in a different manner from what I have
seen it done by other species. The bird sat on the water, dropped
its head and neck down to the surface, half spread its wings, also
dropping them on the water, and, lying almost still, called _oo-oo,
oo-oo, oo-oo_, over and over, as though suffering great pain. The
voice was low and not very loud, and not at all like the _pink,
pink_ of the other birds.
_Field marks._--The avocet, in its striking color pattern of black and
white, could not be mistaken for anything else. A white tail, a black V
on a white back, black wings with white secondaries and blue legs are
all distinctive marks; the buff head and neck are nuptial adornments; in
fall and winter these parts are grayish white. From the stilt it can be
distinguished by its much stockier build, the absence of black on head
and neck and by blue instead of pink legs.
_Game._--Although it is a large, plump bird and would help to fill a
game bag, there is no excuse for treating it as a game bird. It is so
tame and so foolishly inquisitive that it would offer poor sport and
would soon be exterminated. Furthermore its flesh is said to be
worthless for the table. But above all, it is such a showy, handsome and
interesting bird, that it ought to be preserved for future generations
to enjoy. The destruction of its breeding grounds will exterminate it
soon enough, as it has already been extirpated from its former range in
the Eastern States.
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--North America to northern Central America.
_Breeding range._--The breeding range of the avocet extends north to
Washington (Moses Lake and probably Walla Walla); northern Idaho (Pend
Oreille); Alberta (Red Deer, Buffalo Lake, and Flagstaff); Saskatchewan
(Osler, Quill Lake, and Touchwood Hills); North Dakota (Kenmare and
Cando); Minnesota (Brown's Valley, Traverse County); and Wisconsin
(Green Bay). East to Wisconsin (Green Bay); western Iowa (Sioux City);
central Kansas (Larned and Dodge); and rarely to southern Texas (Corpus
Christi and Isabel). South rarely to southern Texas (Isabel and
Brownsville); New Mexico (Chloride); northern Utah (Salt Lake City);
Nevada (Ruby Valley and probably Cloverdale); and southern California
(Little Owens Lake, Kerrville, and Santa Ana). West to California (Santa
Ana, Santa Cruz Island, Buena Vista Lake, Tulare Lake, Los Banos,
Stockton, Amedee, Tule Lake, and Brownell); Oregon (Adel, Plush, Sumner
Lake, and Christmas Lake); and Washington (Moses Lake). It has been
recorded in summer north to British Columbia (Okanagan Landing);
Manitoba (Brandon); and New York (Ithaca); while there also is an old
breeding record for Egg Harbor, New Jersey.
_Winter range._--North to Carolina (Novato and Stockton); and Texas
(Houston). East to Texas (Houston, Corpus Christi, and Brownsville);
Tamaulipas (Matamoros); and Guatemala (Chiapam). South to Guatemala
(Chiapam); and Sinaloa (Escuinapa). West to Sinaloa (Escuinapa and
Mazatlan); Lower California (San Jose del Cabo and La Paz); and
California (San Diego, Morro Bay, San Francisco, and Novato.)
_Spring migration._--Early dates of arrival are: Nebraska, Whitman,
April 13, Long Pine, April 27, Alda, May 2, and Lincoln, May 5; South
Dakota, Pitrodie, April 28, Huron, May 6, and Aberdeen, May 15; North
Dakota, Marstonmoor, April 28; Manitoba, Margaret, May 5; Saskatchewan,
Fort Carlston, May 4, and Dinsmore, May 9; Arizona, Ehrenburg, February
12, and Tucson, April 21; New Mexico, Albuquerque, April 14; Colorado,
Loveland, April 9; and Denver, April 25; Utah, Salt Lake City, April 27;
Wyoming, Huttons Lake, April 21, Lake Como, April 22, and Cheyenne,
April 24; Idaho, Deer Flat, February 15, and Rupert, April 26; Montana,
Great Falls, April 18, Fort Custer, April 26, Terry, May 1, Billings,
May 3, and Big Sandy, May 18; Alberta, Beaverhill Lake, April 28, and
Flagstaff, May 14; Nevada, Ash Meadows, March 15; Oregon, Klamath Falls,
March 26, Narrows, April 11, Malheur Lake, April 17, and Lawen, April
19. Avocets have been noted at Lake Palomas, Chihuahua, on April 7, and
at Gardner's Laguna, Lower California, on April 22.
_Fall migration._--Late dates of departure are: Oregon, Forest Grove,
September 28, Malheur Lake, October 26, and Klamath Lake, November 6;
Alberta, Veteran, September 8; Montana, Fort Custer, September 9, and
Great Falls, October 2; Idaho, Rupert, October 21; Wyoming, Fort
Bridger, October 10; Utah, Provo, November 26; Colorado, Denver, October
3, and Mosca, October 20; New Mexico, Glenrio, October 11, Las Palomas,
October 12, and Mesilla Park, November 9; Manitoba, Margaret, September
15; South Dakota, Harrison, October 28; Wisconsin, Waupaca County,
October 21; Nebraska, Gresham, September 10, Long Pine, October 9, and
Lincoln, October 27; and Kansas, Emporia, August 25. The arrival of
avocets in the fall has been noted in the Valley of Mexico in August and
September.
_Casual records._--The avocet has on a number of occasions been reported
or taken at points far outside of its normal range. Some of these
records are: Cuba, once in the market at Havana and at Cardenas in
August; Jamaica, reported in winter; Barbados, one in the fall of 1880
and again on October 1, 1888; Florida, one killed at Palm Beach Inlet in
1916; Georgia, St. Marys, October 8, 1903; North Carolina, six noted at
Fort Macon on September 12, 1870; Virginia, two taken at Wallops Island
in September, 1925; New Jersey, Barnegat, May 30, 1880; New York,
Ponquoque, one in 1844, Carnarsie Bay, one in 1847, Long Beach, May 20,
1877, near Tuckerton, last of August, 1886, Renwick, September 16, 1909,
and Ithaca, September 16, 1909; Connecticut, near Saybrook, 1871;
Massachusetts, three at Ipswich Neck, September 13, 1896, Lake
Cochituate, October 19, 1880, Natick, October 29, 1880, and Salisbury,
May 23, 1887; Vermont, St. Albans, fall of 1875; Maine, Cape Elizabeth,
November 5, 1878, and Calais, spring of 1862; New Brunswick, Quaco, in
1880; Louisiana, New Orleans, November 12, 1889, and November 7, 1819,
Derniere Island, April 16, 1837, and Johnsons Bayou, November 26, 1882;
Arkansas, a specimen was taken some time previous to 1847; Missouri, St.
Louis, October 28, 1878, and Stotesbury, April 8, 1894; Illinois, St.
Clair County, October 28, 1878, and two at Chicago, May 5, 1889;
Indiana, one was taken at Calumet Lake; Ohio, St. Marys Reservoir,
November 10, 1882, Oberlin, November 4, 1907, and March 16 to 21, 1907,
Sandusky, May 24, 1914, and near Columbus, November 10, 1882; Michigan,
St. Clair Flats, in 1874; Ontario, Toronto, last of May, 1881 and
September 19, 1901; Mackenzie, Birch Lake, July 15, 1910, and Fort Rae;
British Columbia, Okanagan, April 28, 1908, and mouth of the Fraser
River, October 20, 1915. Avocets also have been reported from Greenland,
but the records lack confirmation.
_Egg dates._--Saskatchewan: 27 records, May 18 to June 16; 14 records,
May 29 to June 14. Utah: 52 records, April 10 to June 15; 26 records,
May 6 to 16. California: 35 records, April 22 to June 25; 18 records,
May 5 to 29.
HIMANTOPUS MEXICANUS (Müller)
BLACK-NECKED STILT
HABITS
Although I first met the black-necked stilt in the Florida Keys in 1903,
it was not until I visited the irrigated regions of the San Joaquin
Valley in California in 1914, that I saw this curious bird living in
abundance and flourishing in most congenial surroundings. It was a
pleasant change from the cool, damp air of the coast region to the
clear, dry warmth of this highly cultivated valley. The naturally arid
plains between the distant mountain ranges had been transformed by
irrigation into fertile fields of alfalfa and wheat, vast areas had been
flooded with water from the melting snows of the Sierras, forming
grazing lands for herds of cattle and endless marshes, wet meadows,
ponds and creeks, for various species of water birds. As W. Leon Dawson
(1923) puts it:
The magic touch of water following its expected channels quickens
an otherwise barren plain into a paradise of avian activities.
Ducks of six or seven species frequent the deeper channels; coots
and gallinules and pied-billed grebes crowd the sedgy margins of
the ponds; herons, bitterns, ibises, and egrets, seven species of
_Herodiones_, all told, occupy the reedy depths of the larger ponds
or deploy over the grassy levels. Rails creak and titter, red wings
clink, yellow-headed blackbirds gurgle, wrangle, and screech; while
the marsh wrens, familiar spirits of the maze, sputter and chuckle
over their quaint basketry. The tricolored blackbirds, also in
great silent companies recruited from a hundred acres, charge into
their nesting covert with a din of uncanny preoccupation. Over the
open ponds black terns hover, and Forster terns flit with languid
ease. The killdeer is not forgotten, nor the burrowing owl, whose
home is in the higher knolls; but over all and above all and
through all comes the clamor of the black-necked stilt and the
American avocet.
Of all these birds, the stilts were the most conspicuous in the wet
meadows about Los Banos, where they were always noisy and aggressive. I
have never seen them so abundant elsewhere, though I have seen them in
similar situations in Florida and Texas, on extensive wet meadows where
shallow water fills the hollows between myriads of little muddy islets
and tufts of grass. Here they can wade about and feed in the water or
build their nests on the hummocks above high-water mark, and here their
young can hide successfully among the grassy tufts.
_Nesting._--My first glimpse of a black-necked stilt was a complete
surprise, and my first nest was in an unexpected situation. On May 8,
1903, we landed on Lake Key, in the Florida Keys, a low flat, open
island with sandy shores and a lake in the middle of it. We walked
across the beach, through a narrow strip of low red mangrove bushes and
came to a little muddy pond, very shallow and dotted with little
mangrove seedlings. Here we were delighted to see about half a dozen
black-necked stilts, long slender birds, very striking in appearance and
actions, the jet black wings contrasting finely with the pure white
under parts and the long pink legs trailing behind. They seemed so much
concerned, so unwilling to leave, and kept up such an incessant racket,
that we felt sure that they were nesting there. A short search soon
revealed two of their nests, both very conspicuously placed. The first
nest, containing four quite heavily incubated eggs, was very prettily
located under a little red mangrove root, just as it entered the ground;
a hollow had been scraped in the sand and profusely lined with small
bits of shell and pieces of dry sticks. The second nest was in plain
sight on the open beach of finely broken shell in a small colony of
least terns' nests, the three dark-colored eggs showing up very
conspicuously on the white sand. The nest cavity measured six inches
outside and four inches inside and was lined with pieces of shell,
sticks, and fish bones, an odd and uncomfortable bed for the young.
Besides the least terns, Wilson plovers were nesting close by, rather an
unusual association for the marsh-loving stilts.
Gilbert R. Rossignol writes to me of a colony of some 23 nests that he
found in a somewhat similar location on an island in Lake Kissimmee,
Florida, on April 14, 1908. "The nests were all built high upon the
gravelly beach and were lined with bits of fresh-water snails." This
colony was wiped out later by a rise of water in the lake.
Herbert W. Brandt has sent me some notes on this species as he found it
breeding in Kleberg County, Texas, on May 28, 1919. He found seven nests
in a colony of about ten pairs on "a watery, marshy meadow covering
about a square mile, the water being 6 to 12 inches deep." He describes
one of the nests as "composed of sticks made up into a floating
platform, about four inches high and well made. The lining was small
sticks and the top basin shallow and nicely made. The water, exceedingly
high from recent rains, was up to the eggs, so that the nest was wet." I
saw a similar colony near Brownsville, Tex.
Near Los Banos, California, stilts were nesting all over the flooded
meadows, on little hummocks, on the muddy islands, and along the margins
of ponds. On the drier shores and banks the nests were very simple
structures, hollows in the ground, lined with small twigs, weed stems,
and grasses; but in the wet places, where they were liable to be
flooded, they were quite elaborately elevated to considerable heights.
Mr. Dawson (1923) writes:
It is when the water rises that the birds rise to the occasion, and
get busy with nest building. Sedges, sticks, water plants with
clinging soil, anything movable, is seized and forced under the
threatened eggs. Indeed, so apprehensive is the bird of the growing
necessity, that as often as she leaves the nest she will seize
loose material and fling it over her shoulder for future use. The
eggs themselves, protectively colored in bister and black, are
mauled about and soiled in the mud; but the day is saved. I have
seen a stilt, painfully conscious no doubt, squatted on a truncated
cone of vegetation 8 inches in height and as broad across the top,
a veritable Noah's ark of safety.
John G. Tyler (1913) says:
Nesting colonies of these waders in the Fresno district are never
very large, consisting of from 6 to 20 pairs, as a rule, the most
extensive one of which I have any knowledge containing an average
of about 30 pairs each season. Possibly the numerous small ponds
will not support a great many birds, and as suitable pastures
abound in certain sections it is not a difficult matter for all the
birds to be accommodated without any crowding. As these nesting
colonies of stilts are invariably in pastures with cattle tramping
everywhere over the fields, it seems almost a miracle that any of
the eggs escape being destroyed; and yet I have not one iota of
positive proof of such a disaster ever overtaking a stilt's nest,
while in many instances I have known the eggs to hatch safely
almost under the feet of stock. It is known that few animals will
purposely step on any living object of a size large enough to be
noticed, and the writer is convinced that a stilt simply remains on
her nest and by her vociferousness and possibly even with a few
vigorous thrusts of her long bill causes a grazing cow to direct
her course away from the nest. A lack of judgment causes many nests
to be abandoned each year, and a colony of stilts that are not able
to distinguish between a permanent pond and one that has been
caused by irrigation is liable to find that by the time sets of
eggs are complete the water has disappeared and a new nesting site
must be chosen. Fortunately the larger colonies always seem to be
located near the permanent ponds, but there are numerous scattering
pairs that are deceived each summer.
I have often been surprised at the great diversity of nesting
sites, even in the same colony, it being not an unusual occurrence
to find nests entirely surrounded by water--little islands of mud
and sticks often built up out of water several inches deep. Not
less common are the platforms of dried grass placed just at the
water's edge, or the slight excavations that, killdeerlike, are
placed on the bare ground a hundred yards or more from the nearest
water. In one colony the majority of the nests were built on a
levee that extended through the pond and were so near the waters
edge that, although most of the nests were quite elaborate
platforms of dry grass and twigs, the lower parts of the eggs were
wet. Undoubtedly a high wind would have caused the wavelets to
break over the levee. At this same place there were several nests
far out on the open dry ground without even a spear of grass for
concealment or protection, and with hardly a vestige of nesting
material under the eggs. At one pond where two pairs had taken up
summer quarters there was one nest on the bare black ground where
the white breast of the sitting female was the most conspicuous
object imaginable and could be seen at a glance from a distance of
three or four hundred feet. In direct contrast was the other nest;
for it was artfully hidden among rather rank salt grass some
distance from the pond, and when the sitting bird flattened
herself upon it, as is the custom of this species when endeavoring
to escape observation, she might have readily been overlooked from
any near-by point.
The actions of different pairs of stilts when their nesting
colonies are invaded are also variable. Sometimes a flock of noisy
screeching birds will press close about the intruder, some hanging
in the air on rapidly beating wings, others bouncing along the
ground by leaps and bounds, raising and lowering their wings
continually; while others go through every conceivable motion both
on the ground and in the air. It seems that the larger the colony
the more demonstrative the birds are; for in several instances
where only one or two pairs were breeding the female would sneak
from the nest in a guilty manner and quietly join her mate on the
opposite side of the pond, where they would remain almost
motionless or feed nervously along the margin of the pond.
_Eggs._--Four eggs are usually laid by the black-necked stilt, sometimes
five, rarely seven, and occasionally only three. The shape is ovate,
often somewhat pointed, and there is little, if any, gloss. The ground
color is dull "honey yellow," with an olivaceous tinge, or "cream buff."
The eggs are irregularly spotted or covered with small blotches of
brownish black or black. Sometimes there are a few blackish scrawls and
usually a few underlying small spots of drab. They are often stained
with mud. The measurements of 75 eggs, in the United States National
Museum, average 44 by 30.5 millimeters; the eggs showing the four
extremes measure =48= by 30, 47 by =32=, =40.5= by 30, and 46 by =28=
millimeters.
_Young._--Incubation is shared by both sexes, but we have no accurate
information as to its duration. Mr. Dawson (1923) says:
The infant can make shift to shuffle away from the nest and into
cover within the hour, if need be, but he can not negotiate his
stilts until several hours have elapsed after hatching; and he
feels decidedly pale and tottery, like a young colt, until the day
after.
Dr. Frank M. Chapman (1908) writes:
On May 23, their eggs were hatching, and in June the snipelike
young were widely distributed over the marsh. They invariably
attempted to escape observation by squatting with neck
outstretched, but the parents, whether one approached their eggs or
young, expressed their solicitude by a surprising extravagance of
motion, all apparently designed to draw attention to themselves. I
was at times surrounded by hopping, fluttering stilts, all calling
loudly, waving their wings, bounding into the air to hang there
with dangling legs and beating pinions, and executing other feats
which would have done credit to acrobatic marionettes.
Dr. Alexander Wetmore (1925) says:
The young grow rapidly, and the increase in the length of their
legs is amazing. Until the bones are well formed the young, when
not feeding, prefer to rest with the full length of the tarsus
extended on the ground, but even then appear as tall as other shore
birds of similar body size. Stilts show considerable attachment for
their young, and, unless dispersed by some untoward accident,
frequently remain in family groups long after the young are able to
care for themselves. As the latter become strong on the wing the
family parties range over the country in search of suitable feeding
grounds. As the nights grow cold in the North the birds band
together in larger flocks and finally on some moonlit night in
September, young and old may be heard calling as they pass overhead
on their southward migration.
_Plumages._--Robert Ridgway (1919) describes the downy young stilt as
follows:
Upper parts light buffy grayish mottled with dusky, the back and
rump with several large blotches of black; head, neck, and under
parts buffy whitish or brownish white, the crown, occiput, and hind
neck grayish, the crown with a mesial streak of black, the occiput
with several irregular spots of the same.
The juvenal plumage appears first on the scapulars, back and breast; and
the tail is the last to appear. The young bird is fully feathered,
except the tail, by the time it is two-thirds grown. In fresh juvenal
plumage the color pattern is much like that of the adult female; the
crown, hind neck, back and wings are brownish black, all the feathers
being edged or tipped with "cinnamon"; the edgings are narrowest on the
head, upper back and wing coverts, and broadest on the scapulars and
tertials; the face, sides of the head and all under parts are white; the
central tail feathers are dusky and the others are white, washed with
dusky near the tip, and all tipped with pinkish buff. This plumage is
worn all through the fall and winter, with no change except by wear and
fading; before winter the edgings have largely disappeared.
A partial prenuptial molt of the body plumage occurs in early spring,
when young birds become indistinguishable from adults, except for some
retained juvenal wing coverts. Adults probably have a partial prenuptial
molt in early spring and a complete postnuptial molt in late summer, but
there are no well marked seasonal differences in plumage.
_Food._--Doctor Wetmore (1925) writes:
Stilts feed by picking up insects on muddy shores or in shallow
water, and though not averse to frequenting alkaline areas, on the
whole prefer fresher water than do avocets. For detailed analysis,
80 stomachs of the black-necked stilt were available, distributed
from March to August, and collected in California, Utah, Florida,
and Porto Rico. Vegetable food in these amounted to only 1.1 per
cent, whereas the animal matter formed 98.9 per cent. The birds are
adept in seizing rapidly moving prey and in general are very
methodical in their manner of obtaining food. Gravel is picked up
to some extent to aid digestion, and part of the seeds taken may
have been swallowed for the same purpose.
The animal food consisted mainly of insects, aquatic bugs and beetles
making up the largest items; dragonfly nymphs, caddisflies, mayfly
nymphs, flies, billbugs, mosquito larvae, and grasshoppers were
included. Crawfishes, snails, and a few tiny fishes were eaten. The
vegetable food consisted mainly of a few seeds of aquatic and marsh
plants.
_Behavior._--The flight of the stilt is steady and direct, but not
particularly swift; the bill is held straight out in front and the legs
are extended backwards, giving the bird a long, slim appearance. Over
their eggs or young, stilts sometimes hover on steadily beating wings
with dangling legs. In their excitement they sometimes climb up into the
air and make startling dives.
But stilts are essentially waders; for wading they are highly
specialized, and here they show to best advantage. At times they seem a
bit wabbly on their absurdly long and slender legs, notably when
trembling with excitement over the invasion of their breeding grounds.
But really they are expert in the use of these well-adapted limbs, and
one can not help admiring the skillful and graceful way in which they
wade about in water breast deep, as well as on dry land, in search of
their insect prey. The legs are much bent at each step, the foot is
carefully raised and gently but firmly planted again at each long
stride. The legs are so long that when the bird is feeding on land it is
necessary to bend the legs backward to enable the bill to reach the
ground.
Stilts can swim and even dive if necessary, but they are very awkward at
both, as might be expected with such long legs and the absence of webbed
feet; they never indulge in either action except in cases of dire
necessity. They are usually gentle and unsuspicious birds, much more
easily approached than most large waders. On their breeding grounds they
are especially fearless and demonstrative. Some of their amusing antics
are well described by Mr. Dawson (1923) as follows: