Large. Long necked, long upcurved bill. Sexes similar.
Adults: Breeding: Head, neck, breast, rusty. Eyering, white. Eye, black. Face at base of bill, white. Underparts, white, with black scapular stripes. Wings, black and white. Bill, black and upturned. Legs, blue-grey, partially webbed. Non-breeding: Like breeding but head and neck, pale grey.
Female: Bill is more upturned than in male.
Juveniles: Like breeding adult but cinnamon parts paler. Terials and coverts have pale fringes.
Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada (B) (P), Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, Puerto Rico, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, USA (B), Venezuela.
Vagrant to Greenland, Jamaica, St Pierre and Miquelon, Virgin Islands (British), Virgin Islands (U.S.).
South-eastern British Columbia east to south-western Ontario, and south to northern Baja California east to central Texas; eastern USA; central Mexico. Winters from California and southern Texas through Mexico to Guatemala and irregularly to northern Honduras; south-eastern USA and Bahamas to Cuba.
 
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is 100,000 - 1,000,000 (2010).
American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana) [XC408131]
by Thomas G. Graves from San Joquin Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine, Orange County, California, United States (call)
American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana) [XC554605]
by from Santa Margarita, San Luis Obispo County, California, United States (alarm call, call)