Illustration © David Allen Sibley.
Learn more about these drawings.
Text © Kenn Kaufman, adapted from
Lives of North American Birds
Photo: Ronald Bielefeld/Audubon Photography Awards
Black-necked Stilt
Himantopus mexicanus
| Conservation status | Numbers may be increasing as range expands. Quick to take advantage of artificial habitat (sewage ponds, dikes, etc.), so has extended breeding range into new areas recently. The distinctive subspecies in Hawaii is rare and considered endangered. |
|---|---|
| Family | Stilts and Avocets |
| Habitat | Grassy marshes, mudflats, pools, shallow lakes (fresh and alkaline). Found at all seasons at the margins of shallow water in very open country, especially where there is much marsh growth. For nesting, requires bare open ground near water, with little vegetation. Often found in the same places as American Avocet, but the stilt is more partial to fresh water. |
Photo Gallery
Feeding Behavior
Finds most food visually, picking items from surface of water or mud with bill; may spot items underwater, and plunge head into water to take them. A standing bird may grab flying insects as they go past.
Eggs
4, sometimes 3-5. Buff, heavily blotched with brown and black. Incubation is by both parents, about 25 days; female may incubate by night, both sexes taking turns by day. On very hot days, adult may go to water and wet belly feathers to cool eggs. Young: Downy young leave nest shortly after hatching; are tended by both parents, but feed themselves. Age at first flight about 4-5 weeks.
Young
Downy young leave nest shortly after hatching; are tended by both parents, but feed themselves. Age at first flight about 4-5 weeks.
Diet
Mostly insects and crustaceans. Feeds on very small creatures that live on or near surface of water, including many flies, beetles, and other insects, shrimp, crayfish, snails; sometimes eats tadpoles or tiny fish. Also eats some seeds of aquatic plants. On some western lakes, may feed heavily on brine shrimps and brine flies.
Nesting
Typically nests in loose colonies, sometimes mixed with avocets. If predators approach a colony on foot, several adults may fly to a spot some distance away and perform a distraction display there. Nest site is on bare open ground near water, or on slight rise surrounded by water. Nest (built by both sexes) variable, may be simple scrape in soil or mound built up above water level, lined with pebbles, shells, debris.
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- All Seasons - Common
- All Seasons - Uncommon
- Breeding - Common
- Breeding - Uncommon
- Winter - Common
- Winter - Uncommon
- Migration - Common
- Migration - Uncommon
Songs and Calls
A sharp kip-kip-kip-kip.Black-necked Stilt In the News More News
Saline Lakes News
The Songs of Great Salt Lake
If the marshes and mudflats of Great Salt Lake could transform into music, how would it sound?
Podcast
How Sentinel Birds Help Neighbors Avoid Predators
Species that live in open habitats often rely on these birds' alarm calls.
From Audubon Magazine
The Birds of British Petroleum
Five years after the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry, the author of The Tarball Chronicles grabs his binoculars and returns to the scene of the slime.
