Stilts and Avocets

Black-necked Stilt

Himantopus mexicanus
14-year-old Mike Tetlow “may have set a new bicycle (speed) record” when he pedaled back home before breakfast to breathlessly report he had found this bird on a farm pond a mile and a half away. His father Tom, then GOS statistician, “lost no time getting to the pond to verify the record,” Times-Union bird columnist John Brown reported. The 3 June 1973 sighting of the bird, which was standing on a small island in a farm pond at Wakeman Road and Route 31F east of Fairport (BA 7 June 1973; KB 24:13), was the first inland state record (Bull, p. 232).
Background
“Undisturbed, stilts wade through shallow wetlands and flooded fields with a careful grace. When disturbed during the breeding season, however, all semblance of grace disappears,” notes the profile of this species for The Birds of North America series. “Agitated stilts yap incessantly, dive at predators, and feign mortal injuries.” These birds breed along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and across portions of the western U.S., the Hawaiian Islands and Mexico south into South America. It has been expanding its range northward in the west. “Tendency to range widely and to be transported by storms makes extralimital sightings of summer nonbreeders common, and these can herald future breeding records.” Like the American Avocet, this species congregates on man-made evaporation ponds, which would seem to ensure its survival – except that these ponds also accumulate contaminants, such as selenium. (BNA 449: 1-4)
Status
Exotic, very rare vagrant
Occurrence
Tetlow’s bird was our only record of this species in our region. When the Rochester Birding Association asked its members to list their three all-time favorite birds, it is not surprising Tetlow included this one. “The rarity of this bird in our area was only a small part of my appreciation of it. The bird stood in the middle of the pond as if I were an artist and it was posing for a portrait. There was no need for the bird to fly to show-off its gracefulness and majesty; all it had to do was stand still. The only thing that matched the beauty of its black and white plumage was the bright red color of its eyes and extended legs. The bird left that farm pond that day and I have often wondered what happened to it. My only hope is that it survived its journey . . . and is still providing someone, somewhere, with the tranquil beauty that this, and only this bird, possesses.” (LG, July 1977)

American Avocet

Recurvirostra americana
As Walt Listman approached Shore Acres on 25 September 1965, his attention was drawn to a bird on one of the ponds on the north side of the parkway. At first glance, it looked like a gull. But it seemed to be feeding like a shorebird. Listman parked his car, hurried over to the pond, but the bird had disappeared. He checked the pond on the south side of the road, and there it was: “A big, spectacular, black and white shorebird that could only be an Avocet, a bird that many a local observer has dreamed of finding here, but, until that moment, never had,” John Brown reported (BA, 30 September 1965). Fortunately, the bird lingered until 3 October, allowing many observers to study and photograph it.
Background
This striking bird thrives in the “temporally unpredictable wetlands of the arid western United States,” including salt ponds and alkaline and freshwater marshes of the Great Salt Lake, the Tulare Basin of California and the northern Great Basin. These birds are noted for “scything” their long, recurved bill back and forth to feed; they react vigorously to predators near their nests, swooping on intruders or engaging in various distraction displays, including one in which the birds appear to “walk a tightrope.” In the competition with humans for limited supplies of water in the West, this bird, like other species, often comes out second best. Some wetlands that were once important breeding sites for this species have shrunk as much as 90 percent. Selenium contamination in water is a major concern. Elsewhere, human water impoundments have increased wintering and breeding sites. In the 1800s this species bred along the Atlantic Coast as far north as New Jersey, until driven out by hunting. However, since the 1950s a few summering or fall migrants have been seen in New Jersey in most years, suggesting this species may attempt to return as a breeder in the northeast. Its wintering grounds extend from Baja California, into Central America and eastward as far as Florida and the Atlantic Coast. (BNA 275: 1, 3, 14)
Status
Occasional, very rare visitor.
Occurrence
Only a half dozen records: 1. “Dramatic ornithological news” was made when one was found 25 September-3 October 1965 by Walt Listman at Shore Acres, Allen Kemnitzer reported (WBR, 4 October 1965). This first regional record was seen by many and photographed (KB 16:32). 2. One 6 September 1975 at Northrup Creek (KB 26:38). A Rochester Birding Association field trip observed it flying overhead, the participants getting a “good look at the bird with its striking black and white pattern.” (BA, 10 Sept 1975) 3. A female 4 June 1982 (Symonds, mob) at Carlton Station (KB 32:272) Accepted by NYSARC. (KB 33:248) 4. A female 11-12 May 1984 (McKinney, mob) at Hogan Point (KB 34:179) Accepted by NYSARC. (KB 35:226) 5. Two on 8 August 1998 were photographed by fishermen Mark Romanofsky and Pete Shelton from their boat with a digital camera as the birds flew east along the Lake Ontario shoreline at the west spit of Braddock Bay (KB 48:327; LG, Oct 1998). Accepted by NYSARC. (KB 51:484) 6. One 11 August 2002 (Daniels) at Sodus Point (KB 52:350; LG Oct 2002). Doug Daniels photographed this bird. Accepted by NYSARC (KB 54: 291), which noted that undocumented reports of this species had occurred annually in recent summers in Chautauqua County (Morgante 2003) and, even excluding Chautauqua County, it appeared to be annual in inland New York. “Considering this, as well as the distinctiveness of the species, NYSARC plans to remove American Avocet from the review list.” Three were at May’s Point Pool, Montezuma NWR, just outside our region, on 15 August.

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