Field Marks: 18 in. Conspicuous, gregarious, and easily identified. A tall shorebird with distinctive foraging technique: Sweeps its distinctively upcurved bill quickly from side to side through water or the surface of soft mud to trap tiny food items. Walks, wades, or swims. Numerous at salt or freshwater lakes and ponds, marshes, and muddy tidal shores. Breeding adult male has broad blackish and white stripes on back and inner half of upper wing; primaries black; belly and tail region white; head, neck, and breast rufous-buff; long, thin gray legs; black bill very long, very fine, distinctly upswept. Female similar, but bill more strikingly upcurved. Winter adults have rufous-buff replaced by pale gray, darkest on hindneck. Juvenile resembles adult, but has rufous-buff hindneck and dingy grayish crown; browner back. Broadcasts loud, repeated "kleek" calls.
Range: Breeds locally on California coast, inland to w. Minnesota and Texas. Winters along Pacific Coast from California south, and inland at Salton Sea; on Atlantic Coast, from North Carolina south; and on Gulf Coast. May wander farther north.
