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A long-legged wading bird with a slender upturned bill and strikingly patterned plumage.
Genus Recurvirostra, family Recurvirostridae: four species, including the American avocet (R. americana), which has black and white plumage
‘There are herons, ducks, geese, ospreys, eagles, vultures, pelicans, gulls, plovers, avocets, storks, francolins, guinea fowls and many more.’
‘Virtually every conservation body in the land controls foxes to stop predation of a range of birds from terns to avocets to grey partridges.’
‘Currently, visitors to the flats are likely to see sandpipers, avocets, oystercatchers, godwits, dowitchers, plovers and other shorebirds on their way south.’
‘Shorebirds, for those of you who want to know but are afraid to ask, comprise many families of birds, including oystercatchers, stilts, avocets, plovers, turnstones, sandpipers and phalaropes.’
‘Birders can watch migratory species such as endangered clapper rails, dowitchers, and American avocets from the platform at Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary.’
Origin
Late 17th century: from French avocette, from Italian avosetta.