Unmistakeable, Tall, Elegant Shorebirds… Red-necked Avocets

By Keith Hutton on April 28, 2015 in Other

Red-necked Avocets are easily recognised endemic Australian wading birds. They associate in small parties most of the year in suitable wetland habitats, but may aggregate into larger flocks in winter. They are nomadic and dispersive in response to rainfall, with no apparent seasonal or regular movements. Notwithstanding this, birds at some sites move inland in winter and closer to the coast in summer, depending on severity of inland drought or flooding.

They are tall, fairly large shorebirds, about the same size as small ducks, with long pale blue legs and webbed feet. Adults are elegant, handsome birds. The combination of a long, fine, upturned bill, chestnut head with white, narrow eye rings, and strikingly white and black body and wings, makes them unmistakeable. Sexes are alike and juveniles resemble adults, but are duller, paler around the bill, and brownish buff on their wings.

Avocets in mainland Australia are breeding residents, generally widespread and irregularly distributed in suitable habitat across the south of the country from the central NSW coast to Port Hedland in WA. They’re scarce in Arnhem Land and northern Cape York and rarely recorded in Tasmania. They concentrate in southern inland NSW, northern Victoria, southeast SA and inland southern WA to nest, and then disperse and wander following breeding. They frequent shallow saline or freshwater habitats such as lakes, marshes, tidal mudflats, commercial salt fields and flooded areas. For many years now large numbers have been seen in the Hunter River coastal region north of Sydney and more recently, since 2002, further south in Bicentennial Park.

Red-necked Avocets eat aquatic insects and their larvae, crustaceans, fish, worms, molluscs and occasionally some seeds and vegetable matter. They forage actively during the day. Typically when feeding they wade in shallow water or soft mud, rapidly sweeping their long black bills from side to side in a scything motion like spoonbills, locating prey by touch. They may feed alone or in compact groups, and in deeper water submerge their heads and necks to catch their prey, still using the scything motion. They also pick insects from the water surface, and in water too deep for wading continue to feed swimming readily and well, packed closely together, upending like dabbling ducks.

Red-necked Avocets are capable of breeding in response to temporarily favourable conditions, and provided that an adequate network of inland and near-coastal wetlands is maintained, their survival will be assured. The national population has not changed in recent times, with no apparent regional variations, and their conservation status in all states and territories in mainland Australia is considered to be secure.