I’ve been photographing Avocets so long I seldom see (or capture) anything I haven’t already recorded. However, this scene was unlike anything I had ever seen before. In fact, I am still unable to figure out what was going on and whether or not it is a normal part of mating season.
It was rowdy enough that it reminded me of nearly forgotten nights at closing time in bars when there were not enough women for everyone who had spent the evening getting drunk. I’ll have to admit, though, that it might be easier for me to understand what was going on if I could tell the difference between male and female avocets.
These four Avocets caught my attention because they clearly squabbling among each other and one was nearly submerged.
The argument seemed to end when one of the Avocets chased another one away,
but then a different Avocet chased the other two away
It wasn’t long, though, before they were back again and definitely fighting, or attempting to have sex.
Even more landed shortly afterwards and continued the squabble.
I couldn’t really find anything online that explained what is going on, but several sources noted that aggression is common during breeding season and there is a phenomena known as “circling” that seems suggested by the last shot.