The 10 species of the family Recurvirostridae belong to two distinct groups of birds, the avocets and the stilts. All possess long, thin legs, necks, and bills. The bills of avocets are curved upwards, and are swept from side to side when the bird is feeding in the brackish or saline wetlands they prefer. The bills of stilts, in contrast, are straight. These species feed on small aquatic animals such as mollusks, brine shrimp and other crustaceans, larval insects, segmented worms, tadpoles, and small fish.

Avocets and stilts are a cosmopolitan family, being distributed on all the world's continents except Antarctica, and occurring on several oceanic islands. There are several wide-ranging species and a few locally distributed species. One species, the Black Stilt of New Zealand, is critically endangered due to habitat loss, introduced predators and hybridisation with the Pied Stilt.