Black-necked Stilt - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Leslie
Location: San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine, California, February 2006

Himantopus mexicanus

Includes: White-backed Stilt

Identification

• White underparts
• Black wings and back
• White tail with some grey banding
• Black cap
• Small white spot above eye
• Long pink legs
• Long thin black bill
• melanurus has less black and more white on head

Males - greenish gloss to back and wings, particularly in breeding season
Females - tinged brown.

Distribution

U.S. to southern Peru and Brazil; Hawaiian Islands.

Taxonomy

Subspecies¹

White-backed Stilt
Photo by arthurgrosset
Photo taken: Cassino, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

• H. m. mexicanus:

• Western and southern US to eastern Ecuador, south-western Peru and north-eastern Brazil; winters in the West Indies

• H. m. knudseni:

• Hawaiian Islands

• H. m. melanurus:

• Peru and northeast Brazil to south-central Argentina - sometimes split as White-backed Stilt

Habitat

Photo by Neil
Orlando, Florida, USA, June 2007

Wetlands and coastlines, up to 2500m.

Behaviour

Diet

The diet includes aquatic invertebrates, crustaceans, arthropods, molluscs, small fish and tadpoles.

Breeding

They nest on mudflats. The clutch consists of 3-5 eggs which are incubated by both sexes for 22-26 days. The young fledge after about 28 days.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Black-necked Stilt. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-necked_Stilt

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