AVOCETS AND STILTS: Family Recurvirostridae [ 2.67 ] 



ing sandpiper on the coast. When it arrives from the north it is already 

 well advanced into the pale winter plumage that makes it the whitest 

 appearing of all our small sandpipers. Before it departs in the spring it 

 has completely donned the spotted and checked darker summer plumage. 

 Our latest spring date is June 2. (Tillamook County); earliest fall date, 

 July 2.0 (Lincoln County). 



When the Sanderlings begin to arrive on the beaches in numbers in 

 early August they appear in straggling flocks that follow the wash of 

 the surf back and forth, always calculating to a nicety just how far they 

 may follow the receding wave before turning to race shoreward on flying 

 feet ahead of the surge of its successor. Seldom do they miscalculate 

 enough to be forced to take wing ahead of the rushing waters. In Sep- 

 tember their numbers commence to diminish as many take off for points 

 south. Enough of these hardy sandpipers remain, however, for a winter 

 day's tramp of three or four miles to reveal a flock or two on almost any 

 beach. 



Avocets and Stilts: Family Recurvirostridae 



Avocet: 



Recurvirostra americana Gmelin 



DESCRIPTION. "Bill black, feet and legs bluish. Adults in summer plumage: head, 

 neck, chest, and shoulders light cinnamon, shading into whitish around base of bill ; 

 under parts, rump, and large patches on wing white; primaries, base of wing, and 

 half of scapulars black. Adults in winter plumage: cinnamon of head, neck, and 

 chest replaced by grayish white. Young: like winter adults, but quills and scapulars 

 tipped with whitish, and back of neck tinged with buffy." (Bailey) Downy young: 

 "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." (Bent) Si^e: "Length 15.50-18.75, wing 8.50-9.00, bill 

 3.40-3.65, tarsus 3.70-3.80." (Bailey) Nest: Usually a depression, lined with a 

 little dry grass. Eggs: Usually 4, occasionally 3 or 5, deep buff, more or less evenly 

 covered with irregular spots and patches of dark brown (Plate 42., A). 

 DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from Washington, Idaho, Alberta, Saskatchewan, 

 western Iowa, Kansas south to Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, and California. 

 In Oregon: Breeds commonly about shallow alkaline ponds and lakes of Klamath, 

 Lake, Harney, and Malheur Counties. Has bred in Baker County and probably in 

 Umatilla County. Arrives in May and remains until October. 



TOWNSEND (1839) first reported the Avocet from Oregon, and Bendire 

 (1877) first reported it breeding in the State (Plate 42., B~). Since Bendire's 

 time, every ornithologist who has visited the lake country of south- 



