AVOCETS AND STILTS: AMERICAN AVOCET 
281 
AMERICAN AVOCET: Recurvirdstra americana Gmelin 
Description. — Length: 15.5-18.7 inches, wing 8.5-9, bill 3.4-3.G, recurved 
(straight or nearly so in young), tarsus 3.7-3.S, middle toe 1.6-1.7. Hind toe small, 
feet extensively webbed. Adults in breeding plumage: Foreparts light cinnamon 
except for whitish area around eye and at base of bill; rest of body white; wings 
mainly black and showing blackish V set in white; iris brown, bill black, often pale 
at base below; legs and feet pale blue. Adult winter and immature plumage: Cinna¬ 
mon replaced above by gray, below by white. Young in juvenal plumage: Crown 
dull gray, nape tinged with reddish brown; shoulders and back marked with brown 
or buff, wing quills slightly tipped with whitish. 
Range. —Breeds from Washington, northern Idaho, Alberta, Saskatchewan, 
North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin south to western Iowa, central Kansas, 
rarely southern Texas, southern New Mexico, northern Utah, Nevada, and southern 
California (recorded in summer in Manitoba); winters from California and southern 
Texas south to Guatemala, western Mexico, and Lower California (casual straggler 
over southern boundary of British Columbia). 
State Records.— The most southern limit of the breeding range of the Avocet is 
found in New Mexico, where the bird nests south to Carlsbad, 3,000 feet altitude 
(Bailey), and Chloride, 7,500 feet (Blinn). It also breeds at Las Pinos (Coucs), and 
in 1898 was still a common breeder near Las Vegas up to 8,500 feet (Mitchell). On 
the Carlsbad Bird Reserve 60 were noted April 29, 1914 (Cooper). In the spring 
it arrives in early April—Albuquerque, April 14, 1901 (Birtwell)—and remains in 
numbers until late August. During the summer of 1913, a pair spent the entire 
season at Mesquite Lake, near Mesilla Park (Merrill), but it is possible that they 
were non-breeders. It is rather rare in the central and western parts of the State, 
but more common in the eastern part (1916-1918). On June 6, 1924, a nest with 
eggs was found at Deep Lake, about 30 miles northeast of Roswell. About a dozen 
pairs of apparently breeding birds were seen here and on White Lake. On June 7, 
several nesting birds were seen at a large shallow lake cast of Elkins and south of the 
Roswell-Portales Highway. On June 10, five or six apparently breeding birds 
were seen at a lake on the plains about 30 miles south of Clayton (Ligon). It was 
recorded August 12, 1820, by Major Long's party, apparently near where the Cana¬ 
dian River crosses the Texas-New Mexico boundary, but from the uncertainty of 
the location it can not be considered an authentic New Mexico record (in James, 
1823, Vol. II, p. 115). It was noted August 28, 1845, on the headwaters of the Cana¬ 
dian (Abert), September 3, 1913, near Koehler Junction (Kalmbacli), to September 
7, 1886, at Apache (Anthony), October 12, 1846, Las Palomas (Emory), and even as 
late as November 8,1897, at Mesilla (Barber). Specimens have been taken by Char es 
Springer in Colfax County.—W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —In colonies, a hollow in the sand or in tall grass or weeds in marsh> places 
or near alkali sloughs, lined with grass or weed, stems. Eggs: 3 to 4, pale olive or 
buffy clay, thickly spotted with chocolate or black, and lavender or gray. 
Food. —Rootlets, seeds, and vegetation amount to over a third of the food, while 
w r ater boatmen, beetles, including weevils, crane flies, gnats, and larvae and pupae o 
alkali flies are the most important items in the animal food. The stomach o one 
downy young only a few days old contained 8 or more Bmall water beetles, 1 eiu 
salem cricket, 1 dragon-fly larva, 1 small bug, and 1 centipede. 
General Habits.—As Mr. Henshaw wrote, numbers of American 
Avocets are “still to be seen along the borders of sloughs and ponds in 
the far West, though even there the bird by no means enjoys the 
