Black-winged Stilt

Description The Black-winged Stilt has a mostly white body with areas of black on the wings and the back of the head. They have very long and skinny reddish-pink legs and a long, but thin black bill. Fast Facts Diet Black-winged Stilts are carnivores. They use their sharp bills to peck and ingest only very small food such as molluscs, miniscule crustaceans, algae, flies and aquatic insects. Other Names: Pied Stilt, White-headed Stilt, In the wild Longshanks, Dog-bird Both parents of young Black-winged Stilts are responsible for incubating the Scientific Name: himantopus himantopus eggs. Like most birds, they are also very protective of their eggs, grouping leucocephalus together to ward off intruders. Once hatched, the young can leave the nest within a few hours, although they stay with their parents for another month. Conservation Status: Least Concern Extinct Threatened Least Concern Threats Habitat destruction, which disturbs their feeding and breeding habits, is the EX NT EW EN VU NT LC main threat to the Black-winged Stilt. At Perth Zoo Body Length: 33–39 cm Black-winged Stilts can be found in the Australian Wetlands exhibit and the Weight: 165–200 g Birds of the South-west aviary. Incubation: 22–25 days

Number of eggs: 2–4 DID YOU KNOW? Habitat: Shallow, freshwater wetlands In order to keep predators away from their Distribution: Australia, New Zealand, Papua unhatched eggs, a Black-winged Stilt pretends New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sir Lanka, and the Philippines to be injured so it can lure the predator away. The stilt can also make a sharp yapping sound and fly around frantically to distract any predators.

Distribution