Clover by Rinnie Wijnstra

About "Clover"

by Rinnie Wijnstra

About the artwork

BREAKING
Pairs courtship conspicuously. Breeds mostly in colonies. Nest a pit in the ground, sometimes more conspicuously with a true nest edge. On mud, bare meadow, fields. One brood, 3-4 eggs. Can make new clutch in new nest tens of km away after loss. Egg laying mid April-end June. Incubation period 23-25 days, young are nestlings, fledged after 35-42 days.

HABITAT
Mainly saline environments: mudflats with islets with bare soil, shells, some plants, short grass, often with plovers and terns. In fresh areas also on short grassland and in open arable land (beets, summer cereals, potatoes, corn). Short vegetations are essential. Can quickly establish itself somewhere. So it is a pioneer, which disappears again after vegetation succession.

FEED
In shallow water, sifts animal food from the mud with mowing movements of the bill, by feel. Especially sea squirts (Nereis diversicolor). During the breeding season, avocets forage more by stirring and pecking. Faeces research has shown that in the Dollard, a lot of Corophium volutator (mud shrimp), Copepoda (copepods), Columbola (springtails) Ostracoda (mussel shrimp) are caught in the process, as well as all kinds of insects and insect larvae.

BIRDS
The avocets that breed in the Netherlands migrate in autumn to southwestern Europe and northwestern Africa, but increasingly spend the winter in the Netherlands, in both the Delta and the Wadden area. During migration, strongly coastal, but is sometimes found along rivers and lakes inland. From February (mild winters) or March (colder winters), avocets return.