Stilts and avocets | Recurvirostridae

Kluten | Stilts and avocets | Avocetas y cigüeñuelas

Exceptionally long legs and a thin, flexible bill, either straight or curved upwards: waders that walk belly-deep into shallow, often brackish or saline water. The front toes are webbed, so they can also feed while swimming; one build picks prey one at a time from the surface, the other sweeps the half-opened bill sideways through the water and feels what passes between the mandibles. In every species the plumage is a crisp pattern of black and white that changes little between summer and winter. They breed in loose colonies on bare ground beside water, lay three or four eggs in a scrape, and drive intruders off with loud calls and diving attacks.