The Story
I photographed this Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) near the Mai Po Marshes in Hong Kong’s northwest New Territories on March 22, 2018. It is a wader of coastal lagoons and marshes, easy to know by its long, upturned bill, long legs and black-and-white plumage. It feeds on invertebrates in water and on mudflats, catching them with its distinctive bill. Part of the population migrates long distances to wintering grounds, while other birds stay put. IUCN lists the species as Least Concern. The Mai Po Marshes nature reserve covers 380 acres on Deep Bay, a shallow estuary of international importance.
I took this with a Pentax K-1 and the HD PENTAX-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6ED DC AW, at 1/2000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200. Deep Bay faces pollution and development pressure, so protected wetlands like Mai Po matter for the birds that depend on it.
©2018 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) belongs to the family Recurvirostridae (Stilts and Avocets) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2021). Source: IUCN Red List