Things you need to know about the AVOCET!

hello and welcome back to a shot of wildlife in this video I'm going to tell you almost everything you need to know about the avaset if you've visited a few nature reserves you are probably familiar with the Avatar or at least ahead of one as this is the logo for the rspb these black and white waders are a symbol of conservation success albeit accidental at first until the second world war they've been absent from the UK for more than a hundred years but as a way of trying to slow any potential Invasion large areas of East Anglia were deliberately flooded which create the perfect habitat for other sets to recolonize from Mainland Europe [Music] other sets have long gray colored legs and are white over most of their bodies they have blackheads scruffs and what looks like a black outline to their wings one of their most noticeable features is their up curved thin beaks they have a wingspan of 77 to 80 centimeters and weigh from 260 to 290 grams being a wading bird avocets rely on Wetland habitats they are mostly seen around salt and freshwater marshes but will also visit tidal mud flats lagoons and pools when they are not resting they are usually searching for food they do this in two main ways in Clear Water they can hunt by sight snatching invertebrates cross stations and small fish from below or on the surface and if the water is murky or they are hunting in the sediment they can feed in a different way by swishing their curved bills from side to side to find hidden prey avocets usually start breeding from two years of age when pears will form and perform a courtship dance the male moves repeatedly from one side of the female to the other flicking her with his bill until she is ready to mate after mating the birds create a shallow scrape of a nest usually a loose colonies with other Pairs and sometimes featuring a small amount of piled vegetation each pair will lay three to five speckled Olive eggs between April and June these measure around five centimeters long and are incubated by both parents for 23 to 25 days when the chicks hatch they are covered in a layer of well camouflaged modeled down and are up on their feet shortly afterwards they can feed themselves straight away and follow their parents through the shallows in search of food like a lot of wading birds with specialized bills avocet chicks have shorter and straighter bills at first which makes it easy for them to catch food the chicks gradually grow and mold into Browner versions and appearance and by 35 to 42 days they're able to fly young birds stay near to their parents until the Autumn when they will go to join wintering flocks other sets will only Nest once per year unless their nest fails really early on when they may make a second attempt interestingly birds will usually Nest somewhere different to where they themselves were hatched other sets that breed in the UK move away from most of their breathing sites in the winter usually to coastal areas and estuaries in this country but some of them do migrate properly heading as far afield as Morocco outside of the UK they breed across Northern and Central Europe into Central Asia and across Southern Russia these Continental birds are almost entirely migratory heading south into southern Asia and Africa for the winter time despite their tumultuous history in this country have a set numbers have continued to rise since their recolonization and they are now thought to be around 1 950 pairs living here with nearly 9 000 Birds overwintering a lot of other sets die young but those that make it to adulthood have an average life expectancy of seven years with the oldest ring bird Survivor for 23 years and 9 months here is an example of an avocet's call and that's all if you enjoyed this video and you want to learn more why not watch this one about the Kingfisher thanks for watching and I'll see you next time thank you

Channel: A Shot Of Wildlife

Views: 7,816

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Id: 4g8XCY1YBu8

Length: 5min 6sec (306 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 11 2023