American Avocet

About the American Avocet
Also known as: Avocet
American Avocet

The American Avocet is a wading bird that breeds across much of the western United States and parts of Canada. American Avocets winter along the Florida coast and into parts of Mexico. During breeding season, their pied (black-and-white) plumage is accentuated by cinnamon colored flanks.

American Avocets feed by foraging in shallow water or along mud flats. They sweep their bills from side to side in search of prey, including crustaceans and insects.

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American Avocet Photos

Details & Statistics

Conservation

The American Avocet is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and was last assessed in 2012 by BirdLife International. This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be stable, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is very large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

International Names

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