Species Summary

BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary

Himantopus mexicanus
Black-necked Stilt

Scientific Name:

Himantopus mexicanus (Müller, 1776)

English Name:

Black-necked Stilt

Classification / Taxonomy

Scientific Name - Concept Reference:

American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.

Classification Level:

Species

Species Group:

Vertebrate Animal

Species Code:

B-BNST

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
Animalia	Craniata	Aves	Charadriiformes	Recurvirostridae

Conservation Status / Legal Designation

Global Status:

G5 (Apr 2016)

Provincial Status:

S1B (Apr 2023)

BC List:

Red

Provincial FRPA list:

Provincial Wildlife Act:

COSEWIC Status:

SARA Schedule:

General Status Canada:

3 - Sensitive (2005)

Migratory Bird Convention Act:

Ecology & Life History

General Description:

A tall slender wader with a long straight slender bill, black (male) or brownish (female) upperparts, white underparts, very long red or pink legs and feet, and a white spot above the eye; immatures have buffy edges on the dark feathers of the upperparts.

Global Reproduction Comments:

Both adults, in turn, incubate 4 eggs about 25 days (Terres 1980). Nestlings are precocial. Young are tended by both adults, independent in about 4 weeks (Harrison 1978), first fly at 7-8 weeks (Berger 1981). Nests in small colonies.

Global Ecology Comments:

Social; usually in loose groups of up to 50 (Costa Rica, Stiles and Skutch 1989).

Migration Characteristics:
(Global / Provincial)

    Nonmigrant:
    Local Migrant:
    Distant Migrant:
    Within Borders Migrant:

Y /
Y /
Y /
na /

Global Migration Comments:

Mainly resident south of U.S., though of variable abundance in winter in Puerto Rico (Raffaele 1983). Interior U.S. breeding populations make extensive seasonal migrations.

Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence)

Global Habitat Comments:

Shallow salt or fresh water with soft muddy bottom; grassy marshes, wet savanna, mudflats, shallow ponds, flooded fields, borders of salt ponds and mangrove swamps (Tropical to Temperate zones) (AOU 1983, Raffaele 1983).

Nests along shallow water of ponds, lakes, swamps, or lagoons. May nest on the ground or in shallow water on a plant tussock.

Food Habits:

Invertivore: Adult, Immature

Global Food Habits Comments:

Feeds actively in shallow water; plucks food from surface of water or mud, or probes in soft mud; may peck or sweep bill to capture prey in water (Cullen, 1994, Wilson Bull. 106:508-513). Eats a variety of insects (e.g., bugs, beetles, caddisflies, mosquito larvae, grasshoppers), polychaetes, crustaceans, snails. Also feeds on some small fishes as well as the seeds of aquatic plants.

Global Phenology:

Diurnal: Adult, Immature

Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)

Colonial Breeder:

Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g):

36/ / 166

Elevation (m) (min / max):

Global:
Provincial:

Distribution

Endemic:

Global Range Comment:

Large range but localized. BREEDS: locally on Atlantic coast from mid-Atlantic states south to southern Florida, and from southern Oregon, Idaho, northern Utah, southern Colorado, eastern New Mexico, central Kansas, Gulf Coast of Texas, and southern Louisiana and the Bahamas south through Middle America, Antilles, and most of South America to southern Chile and southern Argentina (AOU 1983); may breed also in eastern Montana and western South Dakota; resident in Hawaii (all main islands except Lanai). Mainly resident south of U.S. Some authors treat populations at the southern end of the range from central to southern South America as a distinct species (H. MELANURUS). NORTHERN WINTER: mostly southern California, southern coastal Texas, and Florida south through breeding range (AOU 1983).

Authors / Contributors

Global Information Author:

HAMMERSON, G.

Last Updated:

Jan 18, 1995

Provincial Information Author:

Last Updated:

References and Related Literature

American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.

Berger, A. J. 1981. Hawaiian Birdlife. Second Edition. University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii. xv + 260 pp.

Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, et al. 1990b. The Birds of British Columbia Vol. 2: Nonpasserines: Diurnal Birds of Prey through Woodpeckers. Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, BC.

Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.

Morrison, R. I. G., R. E. Gill, Jr., B. A. Harrington, S. Skagen, G. W. Page, C. L. Gratto-Trevor, and S. M. Haig. 2001. Estimates of shorebird populations in North America. Occasional Paper Number 104, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, Ottawa, ON. 64 pages.

Oberholser, H.C. 1974. The bird life of Texas. 2 vols. Univ. of Texas Press, Austin.

Raffaele, H. A. 1983a. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Fondo Educativo Interamericano, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 255 pp.

Sibley, C.G., and B.L. Monroe, Jr. 1990. Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. xxiv + 1111 pp.

Stiles, F. G. and A. F. Skutch. 1989. A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, USA. 511 pp.

Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1995. Species Summary: Himantopus mexicanus. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 10, 2026).

BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary

Himantopus mexicanus Black-necked Stilt

Suggested Citation:

Himantopus mexicanus
Black-necked Stilt