Absolutely Adorable And Amorous American Avocets
And you thought alliteration was dead? Not to a pair of American Avocets I met in – wait for it – April (of course).
Avocets are elegant, long-legged shorebirds with long bills curved upward for finding microorganisms to eat in the shallow waters and muds of a water shore. They generally pass through Colorado during migration seasons. In the Spring, most head from the Gulf and other southern locations north to places like Montana and Canada to breed. (As always, please click on any image to view larger)
Above - An American Avocet in full breeding colors looks for food in shallow water
Above - An American Avocet in full breeding colors scratches an itch
However, some decide to stay here for whatever reason to breed and I literally caught this pair in the act. I’ve caught many bird species mating before but Avocets have one of the more elaborate rituals for before and after the actual mate that I have ever witnessed.
I had been very quietly sitting on the shore of threw lake in Belmar Park in Lakewood photographing the Avocets and some Snowy Egrets nearby when, all of a sudden, the Avocets began their “dance”. It took a minute for me to register what they were about to do but I quickly focused on them. They were amazingly close and the photos you will see are barely cropped. In fact, in many photos I was too close and had to delete them because too much of the birds were cut off. And the easiest way to distinguish gender in Avocets is that the female has a much more pronounced upward-curving bill than the male.
The first step is the female signals to the male that she is ready to mate, which she does by lowering her bill to the water so that it is parallel to the water or slightly under it.
The next step is the male starts to preen himself rather vigorously. Hey, got to make sure he stays attractive to her!
Then the male stirs up the water with his bill, going back and forth for several minutes. All the while he is doing that, he frequently changes sides.
Now they are both ready, so he does a short hop to mount his partner. They copulate almost immediately and he dismounts.
It is what they do after the act that I find so endearing. They cross bills while the male puts his wing around the female.
And in the last photo of the sequence, they appear to share a tender moment with each other.
I feel very privileged to have observed the full interaction between this Avocet pair. Nature is truly amazing!
(Feel free to drop any questions or comments below - I always enjoy hearing from you)