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AVOCETS AND STILTS (RECURVIROSTRIDAE) 



BLACK-NECKED STILT (Himantopus mexioanus; choice 6, pg. 42) is a 

 slender moderate-sized, black and white shorebird with long, pink legs 

 and a straight, slender bill (Plate 23-7). Breeding, winter, and 

 juvenile plumages are very similar. It can be found from the San 

 Francisco Bay area to Baja California year round. 



AMERICAN AVOCET (Reourwirostra amerioana; choice 7, pg. 44) is a 

 slender, moderate-sized, long-legged bird with a distinctive, thin, 

 upturned bill (Plate 23-6). In breeding plumage, worn from about February 

 to August, their heads and necks are cinnamon; in winter plumage, worn 

 from about August to February, heads and necks are light gray. Body 

 feathering is black and white. Avocets occur along the coast from the 

 San Francisco Bay area to Baja California year round and in northern 

 California from late summer to spring. They are rare on the Oregon and 

 Washington coasts. 



PLOVERS (CHARADRIIDAE) 



Plovers are small to moderate-sized shorebirds with short necks, large 

 eyes and short bills that are swollen slightly at the tip (Plate 20). 



AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER (Pluvialis dominica; choice 16, pg. 45 ) and 

 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER (Pluvialis squatarola; choices 4' and 25, pp.42and 

 46)- These two medium-sized birds superficially resemble each other in 

 both winter and breeding plumages. Breeding plumage, possible from March 

 to October, is mostly black ventrally; winter plumage is mostly white and 

 gray-brown ventrally. Both species have dark dorsal feathering with white 

 to golden spotting. Black-bellies have short hind toes which Goldens lack. 

 The white rump and wing stripe of the Black-belly are also lacking in the 

 Golden. Black-bellies have black axillar ("wing pit") feathers; the 

 Golden's axillaries are light. Black-bellied Plovers can be found year 

 round from British Columbia to Baja California and in Alaska from April to 

 October. Golden Plovers occur in Alaska from May through October. They 

 occur as spring and fall migrants from British Columbia to California. A 

 few Golden Plovers winter in California, from November through February. 

 American Golden Plovers are much less common than Black-bellied Plovers 

 along the coast south of Alaska. 



SEMIPALMATED PLOVER (Charadrius semipalmatus ; choice 28, pg. 47) is 

 small (about half a Kill deer's size) with dark brown dorsal and white 

 ventral plumage . A single dark ring extends around the neck. Breeding - 

 plumaged birds have an orange bill with a black tip, Juvenal- and winter - 

 plumaged birds have all black bills. Legs and feet are orange to yellow. 

 It occurs in Baja California from July to May, in California year round, 

 and from Oregon to Alaska from April to October. 



