Black winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) complete detail

Black winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) complete detail. Description of Black winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus). Classification of Black winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus). Habit and habitat of  Black winged Stilt. They usually found in small groups.

Identification of Black winged Stilt. Males have a black back, often with greenish gloss. Females’ backs have a brown hue, contrasting with the black remiges. Both sexes are similar, and the plumage does not change during the year. Black-winged Stilts give a repeated high pitched barking call.

Young Black-winged Stilts lack black on the back of the neck and have grey-brown wings and back, speckled with white. They have a smudged grey crown, which extends down the back of the neck as the birds get older……….

The Black winged Stilt is a social bird species, and is usually found in small groups. The Nesting season is principally between April and and August. The mated pairs strongly defend their individual territories. The nest may be anything from a simple shallow scrape on the ground to a mound of vegetation placed in or near the water.

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Classification

Common Name – Black Winged Stilt

Local Name – Gaj Paon

Other Name – Common Stilt or Pied Stilt

Zoological Name – Himantopus himantopus

Kingdom – Animalia

Phylum – Chordata

Class – Aves

Sub class – Neornithes

Order – Charadriiformes

Family – Recurvirostridae

Genus – Himantopus

Conservational Status – Schedule – IV, according to wildlife (Protection) act, 1972 and classified as Least Concern (LC) by the IUCN.

Distinctive Identification

Size between 25 cm to 35 cm. They weigh in between 160 to 185 gm. The Black winged Stilt have long pink-red legs, a long thin black bill and are blackish above and white below, with a white head and neck with a varying amount of black.

Males have a black back, often with greenish gloss. Females’ backs have a brown hue, contrasting with the black remiges. Its most striking feature is the enormous length of its thin pink-red legs.

Its distinctive legs make up around 60 percent of its overall height, providing it with a feeding advantage over other waders in deeper waters.

Both sexes are similar, and the plumage does not change during the year. Black-winged Stilts give a repeated high-pitched barking call. Young Black-winged Stilts lack black on the back of the neck and have grey-brown wings and back, speckled with white. They have a smudged grey crown, which extends down the back of the neck as the birds get older.

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Distribution

The Black winged Stilt has a wide range, including Europe, Africa, Asia, America, Australia and New Zealand. Throughout India, Burma and Ceylon in winter. Resident and breeding in many parts of North and North-western India and Ceylon, Also local migrant.

Habit and habitat

The Black winged Stilt is a social bird species, and is usually found in small groups. Black-winged Stilts prefer freshwater and saltwater marshes, mudflats, and the shallow edges of lakes and rivers.

The Black winged Stilt is essentially a marsh bird, well-equipped for obtaining its livelihood in shallow water. On the ground the bird walks and runs well and gracefully, and it can also swim creditably on occasion. The flight is weak and napping.

The diet of the black-winged stilt is variable according to season, but typically comprises aquatic insects, molluscs, crustaceans, spiders, worms, tadpoles, small fish, fish eggs and seeds.

During breeding, parental investment is high from both male and female birds, with males devoting a significant amount of time to nest building and egg incubation.

When alarmed and flying off, the birds utter a rather squeaky piping chek-chek-chek note.

The Nesting season is principally between April and August. Stilts nest in colonies, often of several hundred individuals. The nest is a hollow or depression in the ground about the margin.

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Of a jheel, or a raised platform of kankar in shallow salt-pans, lined with vegetable scum off the water, grass, or such other odds and ends as can be procured.

The mated pairs strongly defend their individual territories. The nest may be anything from a simple shallow scrape on the ground to a mound of vegetation placed in or near the water. Eggs 3-4, light drab, blotched with black. Incubation period is between 23 to 26 days. Both sexes incubate the eggs and look after the young. The Average life span of is 9 years.