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Black-winged Stilt

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Birds

               iBlack-winged Stilt

                             Conservation status

   Least Concern (LC)
            Scientific classification

   Kingdom: Animalia
   Phylum:  Chordata
   Class:   Aves
   Order:   Charadriiformes
   Family:  Recurvirostridae
   Genus:   Himantopus
   Species: H. himantopus

                                Binomial name

   Himantopus himantopus
   (Linnaeus, 1758)

                                 Subspecies

     * H. h. himantopus
     * H. h. leucocephalus
     * H. h. knudseni
     * H. h. mexicanus
     * H. h. melanurus

   The Black-winged Stilt, Himantopus himantopus, is a large wader in the
   avocet and stilt family, Recurvirostridae.

   Adults are 33-36 cm long. They have long pink legs, a long thin black
   bill and are mainly white with a dark cap and a dark back.

   The taxonomy of this bird is still somewhat contentious: some sources
   believe that there are as many as five distinct species; others
   consider some or all of these to be subspecies. The five forms are:
     * nominate Himantopus himantopus himantopus, which occurs in most of
       the warmer parts of southern and southeastern Europe, southern Asia
       and north Africa.
     * the Black-necked Stilt, which breeds from the US to northern South
       American has a dark head with a white spot over the eye. It is
       recorded as Himantopus mexicanus in the Sibley-Monroe checklist.
     * the southern South America melanurus is larger than mexicanus and
       often has a white crown.
     * the rare and endangered Hawaiian knudseni has more extensive black
       on its neck than the American forms.
     * leucocephalus of southeastern Indonesia and Australia has a white
       head.

   The breeding habitat of all forms is marshes, shallow lakes and ponds.
   The nest site is a bare spot on the ground near water. These birds
   often nest in small groups, sometimes with avocets.
   The Black-necked Stilt.
   Enlarge
   The Black-necked Stilt.

   Some populations are migratory and move to the ocean coasts in winter.

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

Threats and conservation

   The Hawaiian Stilt or ae`o is endangered due to habitat loss. It is the
   only shorebird to breed in the Hawaiian Islands.

   The Black-winged Stilt is one of the species to which the Agreement on
   the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds ( AEWA)
   applies.

Gallery

   Wading in a small fresh-water lake in an industrial area in Perth,
   Western Australia.

   Wading in a small fresh-water lake in an industrial area in Perth,
   Western Australia.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-winged_Stilt"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
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