Parques de Portugal

<p> <em>Himantopus himantopus</em> (Linnaeus, 1758)</p>

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  • Black-winged stilt

  • Himantopus himantopus (Linnaeus, 1758)

  • Recurvirostridae

  • The black-winged stilt is a very elegant and showy wader bird, with extremely long red legs and a thing beak, straight and of black colour. The dorsal surface of its body is black on the male and dark brown on the female, and the ventral surface is white. It can measure up to 36 cm in height.

  • Ria Formosa Nature Park

    Estuário do Tejo Nature Reserve

    Estuário do Sado Nature Reserve

    Sapal de C. Marim e V. R. Sto. António Nature Reserve

  • Lisboa e Vale do Tejo

    Algarve

  • Least Concern

  • The black-winged stilt exists in moist areas with shallow waters, be it fresh or salt water, with a sandy, clayey or muddy substrate and that serve as an abundant source of food, such as salt waters, coastal ponds, rice fields, bogs, quagmires and weirs.

  • All year long

  • The black-winged stilt feeds on invertebrates, mainly aquatic ones, small vertebrates and occasionally seeds. It obtains food on the surface or underwater (submerging its head), in deeper areas than other waders due to the height of its legs.

  • The Portuguese population of this species is estimated to be between a thousand and 5 thousand nesting couples and between 900 to 1200 wintering individuals.