Black-necked Stilt
- Family
- Recurvirostridae
- Conservation status (IUCN)
- Least Concern 4
Where and when to see the Black-necked Stilt
DraftOn the Yucatán Peninsula
It lives in shallow coastal lagoons, salt pans, marshes and flooded pools. Look for pairs or small groups wading slowly in shallow water; if you get near their nests, their yapping will tell you.
Where it’s reported most
- CelestúnCelestún, Yucatán
- El Corchito ReserveProgreso, Yucatán
- San GervasioCozumel, Quintana Roo
- Las ColoradasRío Lagartos, Yucatán
When
All year · most reports Sep–Dec
Most reports from September to December.
Reports relative to effort
- January: 62%
- February: 54%
- March: 43%
- April: 38%
- May: 56%
- June: 53%
- July: 54%
- August: 60%
- September: 100%
- October: 85%
- November: 81%
- December: 70%
Data: eBird and other datasets via GBIF.org (CC BY 4.0), 2015–2026 · Base map: Natural Earth
Wades in shallow lagoons, salt ponds and flooded flats, picking small prey from the surface. It nests on open ground and calls loudly at anyone who comes close.
- Identification
- A slim black-and-white shorebird on extremely long, bright pink legs, with a needle-thin black bill and a small white spot above the eye. Males are glossier black on the back; females are browner.
- Voice
- High, sharp yapping calls that carry a long way and go on and on when it is disturbed.
What the photo doesn’t show
DraftAll legs
For its body size, it has the longest legs of any bird except the flamingos. 1
Full-volume alarm
Near its nest it becomes very noisy: it yaps without pause, dives at intruders and fakes injuries to lure them away. Groups also jump and flap around a predator on the ground in what birders call a “popcorn display”. 1,2
Swimming on day one
The chicks are so well developed that they can swim within two hours of hatching. They fly at about four weeks old. 3
One species or several?
Ornithologists still disagree on what it is. The American Ornithological Society treats it as its own species, while the IUCN lumps it with the Black-winged Stilt of the Old World. 3,4
Sources
- All About Birds: Black-necked Stilt (opens in a new tab)
- Birds of the World (Cornell Lab): Black-necked Stilt (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia: Black-necked stilt (opens in a new tab)
- IUCN Red List category, via GBIF: Himantopus mexicanus (as H. himantopus) (opens in a new tab)
Map and months: 10,503 records from 2015–2026 from eBird, iNaturalist, and others, via GBIF.org (CC BY 4.0), in 0.1° squares (about 10 km). eBird: doi.org/10.15468/aomfnb.
Months: the species’ records ÷ all bird records that month, scaled to the busiest month. It allows for birding effort; it is not the chance of seeing it. A blank square: few or no reports, not necessarily absent.
Tell us where, or ask how to find one.
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