Avocet at sunset

A nice addition to my PBC year list which is chugging along nicely with a fairly healthy total of 149 as of writing. This Avocet was present yesterday evening at Maxey GP, but had vanished this morning. Obviously just passing through.

The youth of today!

Young ducks and waders are undeniably (and I hate to use the word!) cute. They are just balls of fluff, but are very obviously birds, unlike other birds where the very young look like something from the Jurassic period! On my recent visit to Cley, two species of young bird were in good numbers, Shelduck and Avocet. The photos below are of a group of young Shelduck, very feisty youngsters that were constantly `attacking` the adult Avocets when they got too close and a couple of videos show some young Avocets, a group of three fairly young ones and a single that was nearly fully grown.

All together now, aawww!

Avocet

An evening visit to Maxey GP the other day produced this Avocet that had obviously just dropped in for a quick feed and a wash as it was gone the next day. A pair of Avocets have bred at this site before, a couple of years ago and also an attempt was made last year, but this was unsuccessful as the young were predated, but there was no sign this year. This lone bird was obviously just passing through.

The Avocet is a striking bird and once you see one you will never forget its appearance. It is black and white with a long black upcurved bill and long blue-grey legs. It is the logo of the RSPB for an obvious reason. A true success story with now over 1500 pairs breeding in Britain after becoming extinct as a breeding bird in 1840.