American avocet (Recurvirostra americana)

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Abstract:

This species account provides in detail the known information about the American avocet’s life history, including its distribution, migration, habitat, food habits, sounds, behavior, and breeding. Key threats to American avocets are loss of wetland habitat, especially ephemeral wetlands, and contamination. In the arid west, wetlands compete with urban and agricultural areas for limited supplies of fresh water. Many wetlands that were once important avocet breeding areas have declined in size by as much as 90%. Selenium and methylmercury contamination of wetland breeding areas also is conservation issue. Wetland conservation and restoration efforts in inland areas of western North America will be important for maintaining populations of this shorebird.

Notes:

Location: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/275; note is also posted in ZOOLOGY FILES - Zoology.

Recommended Citation:
Ackerman, Joshua T., C. Alex Hartman, Mark P. Herzog, John Y. Takekawa, Julie A. Robinson, Lewis W. Oring, Joseph P. Skorupa and Ruth Boettcher. 2013. American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/275 doi:10.2173/bna.275.

SWAP (2/19/2016) Citation:
Ackerman JT, Hartman CA, Herzog MP, Takekawa JY, Robinson JA, Oring LW, Skorupa JP, Boettcher R. 2013. American avocet (Recurvirostra americana). The Birds of North America Online. (A Poole, editor). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. [revised 2013 Dec 06; accessed 2015 Jun 01]. http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/275.

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