Black-necked Stilt
Himantopus mexicanus
They have the second-longest legs in proportion to their body size of any bird species, second only to the flamingo.
- Scientific name
- Himantopus mexicanus
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Charadriiformes › Recurvirostridae › Himantopus
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- increasing
- Biome
- wetland
- Habitat
- Shallow wetlands, salt ponds, mudflats, and flooded agricultural fields.
- Diet
- Aquatic invertebrates, insects, crustaceans, and occasionally small fish.
- Range
- North America, Central America, South America, Caribbean
- Size
- 35-39 cm length; 70 cm wingspan
- Lifespan
- 10-15 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Wetland drainage, water pollution, and predation by invasive species.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless but highly defensive during nesting. If you hear loud, repetitive barking calls, you are too close to a nest; back away slowly to avoid stressing the birds. Do not touch eggs or chicks.
The black-necked stilt ( Himantopus mexicanus ) is a locally abundant shorebird of American wetlands and coastlines. It is found from the coastal areas of California through much of the interior western United States and along the Gulf of Mexico as far east as Florida, then south through Central America and the Caribbean to Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands. The northernmost populations, particularly those from inland, are migratory, wintering from the extreme south of the United States to...
Photo: Diego Carús, CC0, via iNaturalist
Plain-text version: /species/480251dc-264c-4814-9c38-c66a3e7969ad.md