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Animal profile

Pied Avocet

Recurvirostra avosetta

AvesShallow brackish lagoons, saltpans and coastal marshLeast Concern

Field profile

The pied avocet is a tall black-and-white wader with blue-grey legs and a thin bill that curves distinctly upward. It feeds by sweeping the bill sideways through shallow water and soft mud. It is the emblem of the RSPB in the United Kingdom.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2026-04-06

Pied Avocet

Avocets returned to Britain through wartime flooding

The pied avocet had been lost as a British breeding bird for about a century. Coastal marshes deliberately flooded as an invasion defence during the Second World War created exactly the shallow brackish lagoons it needs, and the species returned in 1947.

Read with evidence →

Pied Avocet | Daily Animal Facts