The Avocet
Morris's British Birds 1891
Scanned by www.BirdCheck.co.uk
Status and distribution Scarce breeder with patchy and discontinuous
range in the Western Palearctic. In the north-west breeds on coasts in east
& south-east England and from northern France to Germany and Denmark,
south Sweden, the islands of Oland and Gotland and west Estonia. Recently
found breeding for the first time in Poland and north-west England. Further
south breeds on the northern Biscay coast of France and in the Mediterranean
in Spain, France and Sardinia, the north Adriatic coast of Italy, in Hungary
and northern Greece. Also breeds from the Danube Delta in Romania, north around
the Black Sea coast and east to the Caspian. In Turkey breeds mainly in Central
Anatolia, also in the far east of the country and in Armenia and Azerbaijan.
In North Africa breeds in Tunisia and in Sinai, possibly also Algeria.
Migrant or partial migrant in northern parts of range but dispersive
in the south, leaving breeding grounds in late Jul-Sep. Small numbers winter
in Britain and North-West Europe but many more in Iberia and North-West Africa,
Egypt and Iraq. Return movement begins as early as late Feb but most takes
place in Apr. As a vagrant recorded north to Iceland and Faroes, on the Azores,
Madeira, Canary Is and Cape Verde Is.
Habitat Breeds close to shallow water, often brackish, in lagoons, river deltas,
water meadows and flooded areas. Out of the breeding season mainly on muddy
and sandy shores, estuaries, mudflats and saltmarshes.