Balcony Birding: Black Winged Stilt

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Black-Winged Stilt in flight on 21.10.2020 photographed from my balcony

Flyover Waders | Balcony Birding | Black-Winged Stilts | Himantopus Himantopus 

Black Winged Stilt taking off (somewhere in Delhi)

Another flyover that I see at times is the Black-Winged Stilt. The first time I saw it, I mistook it for a parakeet. A single one was flying high up in the sky and I could only see a black figure. I don’t know what prompted me to take its photograph. Later while checking the clicks of the day I noticed its thin long beak.

Black – Winged Stilt pair taking a nap in the winter sun (somewhere in Delhi)

I searched for the bird’s identity which did not take time. But to be sure I had to wait for it to come back and give me clearer view….. and it did. So presenting yet another beauty from my balcony birding series  —  The Black-Winged Stilt or Common Stilt, a wader from the the avocet and stilt family.

This shorebird has very sleek, leggy and sharp looks. They have really long pink to red legs, a long needle-thin black bill, a long neck, black to dark brown wings and white body. Both the sexes look similar with difference only in their wing colors; while the male has black wings with a green tinge, the female has a dark brown feathers in their wings.

Black-Winged Stilt pair (somewhere in Delhi)

This bird species is covered under the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) that focuses on bird species that are dependent on wetland and maybe migratory too.

Black-winged Stilts, like many shorebirds, don’t swim while feeding. They feed by pecking at food items while wading in the water.

Some fun facts:
“…..The chicks leave the nest the within a day or two of  hatching
“…… Black-necked Stilts like to eat aquatic invertebrates
“…..Nests are spaced widely on the ground; usually in grass. Sometimes the nest is floating in a mass of water weeds
“….This bird sometimes performs a high-leaping display with a “floating” descent, but the significance of this performance isn’t clear
“…..Black-necked Stilt adults participate jointly in anti-predator displays. The anti-predator display called the ‘popcorn display‘ consists of a group of adults circling around a ground predator and hopping side to side while flapping their wings.
“……Black-necked Stilts often call loudly and incessantly when agitated by an animal in their territory.
“……. In hot climates, the adults use ‘belly soaking‘ to cool themselves, the eggs or chicks, and to increase nest humidity. Stilts may make over 100 trips for water a day.

A stilt juvenile taking a nap (little brown on the head) somewhere in Delhi

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Do watch out for my next post on another species from my #BalconyBirdingList

Posts shared so far on:

1. Rosy Starlings
2. Alexandrine Parakeet
3. Rose-Ringed Parakeet
4. Plum Headed Parakeet
5. Indian Spot-Billed Duck
6. Yellow-Footed Green Pigeon
7. Black-Winged Stilt

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HAPPY TRAVELING!
Monika Ohson | TravelerInMe

This published post is being shared as part of:

#WordlessWednesday hosted by Natasha & Esha
and some more Sue ,  Betty  , Zina