The Black-Necked Stilt
The Black-Necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) is one of the
characteristic birds of the fresh or salty shallow sloughs and grassy
marshes. It is a large (15" to 17" from tip of bill to end of tail), small
bodied wader, black above and white below when standing. In flight, the
wings are entirely black, and the underparts, rump, and tail are white with
the long, cherry-red, pipe-stem legs extending behind.
The stilts are not shy birds, but are wary. If approached too closely they
rise with a harsh scream; if badly frightened, they continue screaming. When
alarmed while in the water, they raise their long wings and rise as lightly
as if on land, then squat quietly down in groups, each bird facing the wind.
If a person comes too near their nest, the bird draws the intruder's
attention away from it by stalking into the open, bending and bobbing up
and down, or faking the broken wing act.
The suitable feeding places are few and scattered, so the black-necked stilt
population is not evenly distributed throughout its range. It prefers the
little wading pools and the shorelines, where it gathers its food by running
about in the shallow waters. As one observer comments, "Stilts run very fast,
but they will stop suddenly, bend their long legs and pick up something
from the ground, then off again after more food."
Their food consists of small water snails, insects, worms, and some small
fry of fishes. Lillian Grace Paca, in her "Introduction to Western Birds"
(Sunset Book), notes, "Around fish hatcheries they are welcome guests ...
for they eat the water beetles that prey on the insect life that is the
natural food of most young fish. They also destroy grasshoppers and their
larvae, and the destructive pillbugs that feed on corn.
The Black-Necked Stilts begin to build their nests about the first week in
May. The nest is placed on a dry mud flat or on a hummock in the marsh,
using old grass, and gradually adding to its height with dry twigs, roots
of salt grass, and seaweed until the whole nest may weigh between two and
three pounds. This habit of adding new material under the base of the nest
after the female begins sitting is characteristic of most other birds that
breed in marshes, and probably results from an instinctive fear of high
water. The four to seven buff colored eggs are spotted with large black
blotches. Colonies of nests placed within fifteen to twenty yards apart are
not unusual. Audubon writes, "While the females are sitting, the males pay
them much attention, watching the approach of intruders, chasing away the
red-winged blackbirds and crows. When the young are hatched, they leave the
nest and follow their parents through the grass, but when danger appears
they squat and are motionless."
There are seven or eight species of black-necked stilts throughout the
world, but only one native to the United States. The Hawaiian Islands have
their own resident species. In the United States they are found in the
western and southeastern states, and on south to Peru. The winter areas are
mainly south of United States and on the Pacific coast north to San Francisco
Bay. They breed mainly from southern Oregon, northern Utah and southern
Colorado.
Dr. Pearson comments, "Although this large wader is now very rare in the
eastern United States, it is still found in the west and south, and under
the protection that seems assured to it by the new Federal Migratory Bird
law, the species should long survive to give grace and beauty to many of
the waste places of the continent."
-- by Marie L. Atkinson
Editor's Note: The charts showing the "Seasonal Abundance of Birds on the
Bear River Refuge" indicate that the best time to find the peak population
of the Black-Necked Stilt is the latter part of April and early weeks of
May. As many as 7,500 have been recorded on the refuge during this period.
REFERENCES:
Field Guide to Western Birds
Roger Tory Peterson
National Geographic