Black-necked Stilt
Himantopus mexicanus
Also known as: Long-legged Avocet · Mexican Stilt
Aves
COMMON
Stats
- Lifespan
- 12-20 yrs
- Size
- Medium
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Social
- Colony
- Biome
- Freshwater wetland
- Range
- The Americas
- Movement
- Walking
- Breeding
- Egg-laying
- Defense
- Group defense
- Status
- Common
About
A slender wading bird of shallow wetlands, named for its extraordinarily long, thin pink legs that are the longest relative to body size of any bird except flamingos. Black-necked Stilts wade through shallows on those stilt-like legs, plucking insects and small crustaceans from the water's surface.
Life cycle
- 1.eggA clutch of eggs is incubated in the nest, kept warm by a brooding parent until the chicks pip free.
- 2.hatchlingA naked or downy hatchling is fed in the nest by its parents.
- 3.juvenileA feathered juvenile fledges from the nest and learns to fly and forage.
- 4.adultFully grown with adult plumage.
Learn more
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Recurvirostridae
- Genus
- Himantopus
- Species
- Himantopus mexicanus