Black-winged Stilt

Scientific Name: Himantopus himantopus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status.

Range / Habitat: Western Europe and Mediterranean region to Central Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar, South and Southeast Asia.

Field Notes: Wader with long pink leg and a long thin black bill. Blackish above and white below, with a white head and neck with a varying amount of black.

Personal Notes: Seen at Donana National Park, Spain. Per HBW, Black-neck Stilt subsumed under this species name. 

Black Stilt

Scientific Name: Himantopus novaezelandiae

Population Estimate: 200 individuals, Critically Endangered

Range / Habitat: Restricted to two braided river basins near Twizel, in the South Island of New Zealand. Eggs taken from birds in the wild, raised in a protected environment, then released back to the wild.

Field Notes: All black, medium-sized wader with long pink-red legs, fine bill, red eye. Juvenile with variable white to the head, neck and chest. White-headed Stilt could be confused for a juvenile, but former has no black at all on belly.

Personal Notes: We had visited the DOC breeding site and saw these birds in captivity but then were given a tip from the owner of Heartland Lodge and were lucky enough to find them in the wild. Quite a treat!

White-headed Stilt

Scientific Name: Himantopus leucocephalus

Population Estimate: 330K

Range / Habitat: Found in marine costal and inland wetlands in Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines.

Field Notes: Distinctive black and white wader with quite long pink-red legs and long, fine black bill. Head usually all-white, neck white in front, black behind and with open black chest band. Usually a white band across upper back. Wings black.

Personal Notes: Photographed outside of Napier. Split from Black-winged Stilt, though some sources still consider it conspecific. Known as Pied Stilt in New Zealand. Maori name is Poaka.

American Avocet

Scientific Name: Recurvirostra americana

Population Estimate: 100K - 1M, Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Breeds in marshes, beaches, prairie ponds, and shallow lakes in the mid-west and on the Pacific coast of North America. Winters in the southern costal US and in some parts of Mexico.

Field Notes: Large shorebird with long legs and long, upturned bill. Striking black and white coloring as above, though only breeding male has rust color to head.

Personal Notes: Elegant bird we always enjoy seeing out west. 

Black-necked Stilt

Scientific Name: Himantopus mexicanus

Population Estimate: 200K to 2M

Range / Habitat: The Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) is a locally abundant shorebird of American wetlands and coastlines. It is found from the coastal areas of California through much of the interior western United States and along the Gulf of Mexico as far east as Florida, then south through Central America and the Caribbean to northwest Brazil southwest Peru,east Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands.

Field Notes: The Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) is treated by HBW as a subspecies of the Common or Black-winged Stilt, using the trinomial name Himantopus himantopus mexicanus. Adults have long pink legs and a long thin black bill. They are white below and have black wings and backs. The tail is white with some grey banding. A continuous area of black extends from the back along the hindneck to the head. There, it forms a cap covering the entire head from the top to just below eye-level, with the exception of the areas surrounding the bill and a small white spot above the eye. Males have a greenish gloss to the back and wings, particularly in the breeding season. This is less pronounced or absent in females, which have a brown tinge to these areas instead. Otherwise, the sexes look alike.

Personal Notes:

Pied Avocet

Scientific Name: Recurvirostra avosetta

Population Estimate: 210K - 460K

Range / Habitat: The Pied Avocet is mainly migratory, but populations are present all year round in Africa and in some parts of W Europe. The strongest migrants are the eastern populations which move to Persian Gulf, NW India and SE China in winter, coming from C Asian breeding areas.

Field Notes: The Pied Avocet is a striking white wader with bold black markings. Adults have white plumage except for a black cap and black patches in the wings and on the back. They have long, upturned bills and long, bluish legs.

Personal Notes: