I happened across a half dozen pair of these cool shorebirds at a pond not far from home. It was a bit late in the morning for photography but I went ahead and stopped and am glad I did. They gave me some fun shots as there were constant battles over fishing rights for various spots on the pond. The fights were kind of interesting in that apparently the way to win was to jump / fly up and land on your opponents head, pushing them under water.
American avocet wades in the water
There are a couple of these cool birds that hang out in a pond near my house. These birds spend summers here in Colorado for their breeding season. I love their unusual plumage and they are kind of fun to watch as they dip their bills in the water grabbing food. Apparently they can be quite aggressive toward predators and have been known to strike harriers and ravens.
American Avocets have a bit of a squabble
As I have said, I don’t really take pictures of “little” birds. However, I have to admit these ones are pretty darned cool. There were about a half dozen of them hanging out in a pond on Sunday and I felt compelled to take pictures of them. I don’t want the problem was but these two clearly did not want to play nice with each other. One would get close, the other would chase it away. I had a hard time keeping up with the action but did manage this shot of the two of them going at it.
American Avocets hanging out in the shallows
You might have saw a couple of these in the background of the picture I posted this morning. Here are a couple better looks at them. These birds spend summers here in Colorado for their breeding season. I love their unusual plumage and they are kind of fun to watch as they dip their bills in the water grabbing food. Apparently they can be quite aggressive toward predators and have been known to strike Harriers and Ravens. Go figure!