Birds
Black-Necked Stilt
Himantopus mexicanus · also called black-necked stilts
A coyote drifts too close to a shallow wetland nest, and a black-necked stilt suddenly drags one wing across the mud as though badly injured, leading the predator on a long, hopeless chase away from eggs the bird was never actually willing to abandon.
Overview
The black-necked stilt, Himantopus mexicanus, is a striking black-and-white shorebird native to shallow wetland and coastal habitat across the southern United States, Central America, the Caribbean, and parts of South America. Its extraordinarily long legs and convincing broken-wing distraction display make it one of the more physically distinctive and behaviourally resourceful shorebirds in the Americas.
Legs built to out-wade the competition
While most shorebirds crowd the shallowest fringes of a wetland, the black-necked stilt’s exceptional leg length lets it push into deeper water most relatives simply can’t reach, opening up a feeding zone that stays largely its own.
Status
Least Concern — widespread and stable across suitable shallow wetland and coastal habitat throughout its range in the Americas.
Black-Necked Stilt: common questions
Why does the black-necked stilt have such long legs?
A black-necked stilt has extraordinarily long, thin legs relative to its body size, among the most extreme leg-to-body proportions found in any bird, an adaptation that lets it wade into water considerably deeper than most other shorebirds can comfortably access while foraging.
Why does a black-necked stilt pretend to have a broken wing?
A black-necked stilt defending a nest will feign a broken wing, dragging it conspicuously along the ground to draw a predator's attention away from eggs or chicks, and once the predator has been lured far enough from the nest, the stilt suddenly recovers and flies off.
Do black-necked stilts nest alone or in groups?
A black-necked stilt typically nests in loose colonies alongside other stilts, a social nesting arrangement that offers some shared vigilance and group defence against approaching predators compared with nesting entirely alone.
Where does the black-necked stilt live?
The black-necked stilt is native to shallow wetland and coastal habitat across the southern United States, Central America, the Caribbean, and parts of South America, generally favouring open, shallow water with little vegetation.