American Avocet - An Elegant Glow

American Avocet

The name Avocet comes from the Italian avosetta, which means ‘graceful bird'. If your looking for the American version of this graceful bird, you’ll find him foraging in the shallow marshes scattered throughout the wide open west.

It’s easy to confirm his identity because of his distinctive features and striking colors. His sleek, white body is set upon a pair of long, blue legs and he has solid black wings broken by a broad, white bar.

The Avocet has an outrageously long, recurved, black bill but his exquisite coloring is what really sets him apart. During breeding season his head, neck and breast is shaded in soft peach while in the winter those same areas are filled gray.

He’s a common shore bird whose breeding grounds are often located along the lower fringes of the Rocky Mountains. He wades across the wetlands scything - sweeping his bill side to side through the water’s surface while feeding on tiny crustaceans and aquatic insects.

He and his mate prefer to live on an island where they scrape the ground, creating a saucer-shaped nest lined with grass, feathers and pebbles. Upon hatching, the chicks feed themselves as they’re never fed by their parents.

The little ones are precocial, moving around independently soon after they’re born. By just one day old, the nimble chicks have the ability to walk, swim and dive in order to escape threatening predators.

The parents are notoriously aggressive towards anything and anyone who approaches their nest or young. They make shrill alarm calls, create distraction displays and dive bomb unlucky intruders.

Come fall, the bird will migrate to a more hospitable environment usually along the California coastline. Before his inevitable departure, though, there’s still lots of time to bask in the elegant glow of the American Avocet.

A graceful bird

A common shore bird

A long, curved bill

Distinctive features

The head, neck and breast are peach

Foraging in a shallow marsh

Exquisite coloring

Found in the wide open west

Protective parents

Scything through the water

Wades across the wetlands

An elegant glow

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lair O' the Bear and Dunafon Castle

Image
The restored Dunafon Castle Lair O' the Bear Park is nestled in a steep canyon about six miles east of Evergreen, Colorado. John and Matilda Johnson emigrated from Sweden with their two young boys and purchased the narrow meadow in 1902. They named it Mountain Nook Ranch, built a four-bedroom house and raised Red Durham cattle. Their two sons, Finis and Francis, attended school in nearby Starbuck, now known as Idledale. It was originally named for John Starbuck who won the town property in a poker game. John Johnson was a master gardener and his popular, fresh produce was sold in Evergreen and Denver. They planted over 200 cherry and apple trees in the area. If you look closely many can still be found throughout the park today. The unruly Bear Creek sculpted the beautiful scenery and provided the needed irrigation for productive crops but it also wreaked plenty of havoc. There was a constant fear of extreme flooding. The Lariat Trail (Highway 74 today) crossed Bear Creek s...
Read more

Ibis - A Symbol for Danger and Optimism

Image
White Ibis The white ibis is a wading bird that is very common throughout Florida. Their traditional habitat has always been the Everglades but they've recently adapted to a more urban environment. During our visit there this past summer, we frequently saw ibises on freshly mowed lawns rooting for large bugs as well as stalking aquatic prey along the shoreline of ponds, lakes and marshes. These splendid, white birds have evolved a long, downward-curved bill. This distinctive feature has helped them develop into efficient hunters. Their legs are long enough to wade in shallow water but they are also perfectly at home on dry land where they can use their pink beak to probe for insects. The white ibis is a symbol for danger and optimism because Native American folklore held that the bird was the last to seek shelter before a hurricane and the first to emerge afterwards.
Read more

An Approaching Storm - Colored Pencil Drawing

Image
"An Approaching Storm" Colored Pencil In the midst of an already grievous winter, an approaching storm gradually extinguishes the landscape’s last sliver of light. The inclement weather rushes in aggressively as it envelopes the magnificent range of rugged peaks. Extending across the page, a strip of turquoise sky is still visible above the embattled scenery. It won’t be long, though, before a cloak of cool-gray smothers the valley in a shroud of deep snow. The high mountains assume a defiant posture as their sharp edges tear through the soft atmosphere, creating patches of bare rock. The kaleidoscope of broken terrain sparkles in blue-violet before the impending storm’s onset. The forested foothills are distinguished by three different, overlapping tiers of conifers. As the woodland ramparts recede into the distance, the wintery colors gradually become several shades bluer. The wide, white meadow sweeps across the foreground, its smooth surface decorated with elongated shado...
Read more