Black-winged stilt

{{Speciesbox

| image = Black-winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus).jpg

| image2 = Black-winged Stilt, Common Stilt, or Pied Stilt, Himantopus himantopus at Marievale Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa. (44754808815).jpg

| image2_caption =Black-winged stilt in Marievale Nature Reserve

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |year=2019 |title=Himantopus himantopus |amends= 2016 |page=e.T22727969A155440465 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T22727969A155440465.en |access-date=13 November 2021}}

| taxon = Himantopus himantopus

| authority = (Linnaeus, 1758)

| synonyms = *Charadrius himantopus Linnaeus, 1758

| range_map = HimantopusHimantopusIUCN2019-3.png

| range_map_caption = Range of H. himantopus (sensu lato, see text)

{{leftlegend|#00FF00|Breeding|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#008000|Resident|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#00FFFF|Passage|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#007FFF|Non-breeding|outline=gray}}

}}

The black-winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus) is a widely distributed, very long-legged wader in the avocet and stilt family Recurvirostridae. Its scientific name, Himantopus himantopus, is sometimes used to generalize a single, almost cosmopolitan species. Alternatively, it is restricted to the form that is widespread in Europe, Asia and Africa, which equals the nominate group of H. himantopus sensu lato. Meanwhile, the black-necked (H. mexicanus) and white-backed stilts (H. melanurus) both inhabit the Americas; the pied stilt (H. leucocephalus) ranges from Australasia and New Zealand. Today, most sources accept between one and four actual species.

Taxonomy

The black-winged stilt was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the plovers in the genus Charadrius and coined the binomial name Charadrius himantopus. He specified the type locality as southern Europe.{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=151 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727058 }}{{ cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1934 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=2 | publisher=Harvard University Press | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=289 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14483102 }} The taxonomic name Himantopus comes from Greek, meaning "strap-foot" or "thong-foot". The black-winged stilt is now one of five species placed in the genus Himantopus that was introduced by the French naturalist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=December 2023 | title=Buttonquail, thick-knees, sheathbills, plovers, oystercatchers, stilts, painted-snipes, jacanas, Plains-wanderer, seedsnipes | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/buttonquail/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=9 February 2024 }}

The taxonomy of this bird is still somewhat contentious; it is one of four distinct species, which sometimes are considered subspecies of H. himantopus. H. himantopus sensu lato is made up of a single species, with 5–7 subspecies, and is sometimes referred to as the common stilt. The name "black-winged stilt" refers to H. himantopus sensu stricto, with two subspecies (H.h. himantopus from the Palearctic to South Asia, and H.h. meridionalis from the Afrotropical region).{{cite web | url = https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?avibaseid=AC6252CA7ACD600E | title = Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus (Linnaeus, 1758) | access-date = 19 August 2017 | publisher = Denis Lepage | work =Avibase}}

Description

Adults are {{convert|33|–|36|cm|in|abbr=on}} long, with long, pink legs, and a long, rather thin black bill. The birds are generally black above and white below, with a white head and neck (with a varying amount of black, species-dependent). Males have a black back, often with a greenish gloss or sheen. Females' backs have a brownish hue, contrasting with the black remiges. In populations where the top of the head is normally white (at least in winter), females tend to have less black on the head and neck the entire year-round, while males often have much more black, particularly in summer. This difference is not clear-cut, however, and males usually grow all-white head feathers in winter.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Immature birds are grey, instead of black, and have a markedly sandy hue on their wings, with light feather fringes appearing as a whitish line in flight.

{{Listen|filename=Black-winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus himantopus).ogg|title= Flight Call of H. h. himantopus|description=Recorded in India|type=sound|pos=}}

Himantopus himantopus MHNT.jpg|Egg
MHNT

Himantopus himantopus P5150181.jpg|Nestling

Black-winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus) immature.jpg|immature
Kazinga Channel, Uganda

Black-winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus) India.jpg|Rajasthan, India

Ecology and status

The breeding habitat of all these stilts is marshes, shallow lakes and ponds. Some populations are migratory and move to the ocean coasts in winter; those in warmer regions are generally resident or short-range vagrants. In Europe, the black-winged stilt is a regular spring overshoot vagrant north of its normal range, occasionally remaining to breed in northern European countries. Pairs successfully bred in Britain in 1987, and after a 27-year hiatus there were two instances of successful breeding in Southern England in 2014.{{cite web|last1=RSPB|title=27-year first as rare black-winged stilt chicks hatch at RSPB reserves in southern England|url=http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/details.aspx?id=370877|website=RSPB Website|access-date=16 November 2015}} 13 young were fledged in southern England in 2017.{{cite web | url = http://www.countryfile.com/article/uk-experiences-record-number-rare-black-winged-stilts | title = UK's rare black-winged stilt numbers soar | access-date = 20 August 2017 | publisher = BBC | work = Countryfile Magazine}} Four chicks were successfully fledged in northern England in 2022; this is believed to be the most northerly breeding success for the black-winged stilt.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-61826871 |title= Potteric Carr: Black-winged stilt chicks in northern first |work= BBC News |date= 17 June 2022 |access-date=11 August 2022}}{{cite web |url=https://www.birdguides.com/articles/review-of-the-week/review-of-the-week-13-19-june-2022/ |title= Review of the Week: 13-19 June 2022 |website=www.birdguides.com |date= 20 June 2022 |access-date=11 August 2022}}

These birds pick up their food from sand or water. They eat mainly insects and crustaceans.

The nest site is a bare spot on the ground near water. These birds often nest in small groups, sometimes with avocets.

The black-winged stilt is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds applies.

File:Black-winged stilt courtship behaviour.jpg|Pair exhibiting courtship behaviour, Kinburn Peninsula, Ukraine

File:Black-winged stilts (Himantopus himantopus) fighting.jpg|adults fighting
Kazinga Channel, Uganda

File:Black-winged stilts (Himantopus himantopus) in flight Soliman.jpg|in flight
Tunisia

References

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite web |publisher=BirdLife International (BLI) |year=2008 |url=http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=32476&m=0 |title=Species factsheet: Black-necked Stilt |access-date=24 September 2008}}{{Dead link|date=December 2023}}

{{cite web |publisher=BirdLife International (BLI) |year=2023 |url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/black-winged-stilt-himantopus-himantopus |title=Species factsheet: Black-winged Stilt |access-date=9 December 2023}}

{{cite web |publisher=BirdLife International (BLI) |year=2008 |url=http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=3102&m=0 |title=Species factsheet: White-headed Stilt |access-date=24 September 2008}}{{Dead link|date=December 2023}}

{{cite journal |last=Boyd |first=Bill |year=1987 |title=The Black-winged Stilts at Holme Norfolk Naturalists' Trust reserve |journal=Twitching |volume=1 |issue=6 |pages=148–150}}

{{cite book |last=Jobling |first=James |title=Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names |url=https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling |year=2010 |publisher=Helm |location=London |page=191}}

}}

External links

{{InternetBirdCollection|black-winged-stilt-himantopus-himantopus}}
[http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/295.pdf Black-winged Stilt species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds].
[https://web.archive.org/web/20141202061959/http://aulaenred.ibercaja.es/wp-content/uploads/162_BlackwingedStiltHhiimantopus.pdf Ageing and sexing (PDF; 2.7 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze]
{{Avibase|name=Himantopus himantopus}}
{{VIREO|Black-winged+stilt}}
{{IUCN_Map|22727969/166436026|Himantopus himantopus}}
{{Xeno-canto species|Himantopus|himantopus|Black-winged stilt}}

black-winged stilt

Category:Cosmopolitan birds