Stats

Lifespan

9-15 yrs

Size

Medium

Diet

Carnivore

Activity

Diurnal

Social

Flock

Biome

Freshwater wetland

Range

North America

Movement

Walking

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Flight

Status

Common

About

A tall, elegant shorebird of shallow lakes and mudflats, known for its long, thin, upturned bill that it sweeps side-to-side through the water to sift out small invertebrates. Breeding adults show a striking cinnamon-orange head and neck that fades to gray-and-white by winter.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg

   A clutch of eggs is incubated in the nest, kept warm by a brooding parent until the chicks pip free.
2. 2.
   hatchling

   A naked or downy hatchling is fed in the nest by its parents.
3. 3.
   juvenile

   A feathered juvenile fledges from the nest and learns to fly and forage.
4. 4.
   adult

   Fully grown with adult plumage.

Learn more

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Recurvirostridae

Genus

Recurvirostra

Species

Recurvirostra americana