How to Identify aBlack-necked Stilt
Himantopus mexicanus · 13.8–15.3 in (35–39 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Glossy black above and clean white below, with a needle-thin black bill and long pink legs.
Female
Like the male but with a browner tinge to the black upperparts.
Male photo: Frank Schulenburg / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Second photo: Chuck Homler d/b/a Focus On Wildlife / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Field marks
- Extremely long, thin, bright pink legs
- Needle-straight black bill
- Crisp black-above, white-below pattern
- Legs trailing far past the tail in flight
Similar species
What it sounds like
A loud, sharp, yapping "kek-kek-kek", repeated insistently at any intrusion.
Behaviour that gives it away
Relative to its body it has the longest legs of almost any bird, letting it feed in water too deep for other waders its size.
Habitat & range
Shallow marshes, salt ponds, flooded fields and lagoons in the South and West.
When you'll see it
Depending on where in North America you are, it is present all year and a summer visitor that arrives to breed.
What it eats
Aquatic insects, crustaceans and small fish picked from the surface.
Did you know?
In proportion to its body it has the second-longest legs of any bird, beaten only by the flamingos.
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