African Wildlife And Environment Issue 73

BIRDING

T he Pied Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta (R 294, ‘Bontelsie’ in Afrikaans) is an unmistakable white-and-black wader, with a long, very thin, upturned bill. It is a medium sized bird, with long pale bluish-grey legs. The general plumage is pied, black and white above, the crown is black as well as the back of neck. The underparts are all white. In flight the pied pattern is striking, showing a conspicuous black and-white, with the long legs and toes extending well beyond the short tail. The iris in the male bird is red, and brown in the female. The bill in both sexes is black. The Pied Avocet is a common resident, but displays nomadicbehaviour, atwetlands, occasionallyonsandy beaches, in small flocks. Its distribution is the whole of southern Africa except the Lesotho and Eastern Cape mountain ranges. They breed discontinuously

throughout Africa, Europe and central Asia. These palearctic birds migrate to Africa, India and south east Asia. They are locally common, especially in the western parts of South Africa. Some birds however are resident, others possibly non-breeding Palaearctic migrants visiting during our summer months. Their typical habitat is shallow water in estuaries, lagoons, marine shores, dams, sewage ponds, pans and coastal lakes. They are gregarious in small flocks or solitary. The Pied Avocet forages by wading briskly in shallow water, less often by swimming. They have enjoyed a boom period over the last 60 years with the creation of artificial water bodies, especially those of coastal salt works, sewage effluent evaporation ponds and industrial pans, such as those established in the vicinity of mining activities.

Photographs: Albert Froneman

41 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 73 (2019)