From Opus

Photo by Leslie
Location: San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine, California, February 2006

Himantopus mexicanus

Includes: White-backed Stilt

[edit] Identification

• White underparts
• Black wings and back
• White tail with some grey banding
• Black cap
• Small white spot above eye
• Long pink legs
• Long thin black bill
• melanurus has less black and more white on head

Males - greenish gloss to back and wings, particularly in breeding season
Females - tinged brown.

[edit] Distribution

U.S. to southern Peru and Brazil; Hawaiian Islands.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies¹

White-backed Stilt
Photo by arthurgrosset
Photo taken: Cassino, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

• H. m. mexicanus:

• Western and southern US to eastern Ecuador, south-western Peru and north-eastern Brazil; winters in the West Indies

• H. m. knudseni:

• Hawaiian Islands

• H. m. melanurus:

• Peru and northeast Brazil to south-central Argentina - sometimes split as White-backed Stilt

[edit] Habitat

Photo by Neil
Orlando, Florida, USA, June 2007

Wetlands and coastlines, up to 2500m.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

The diet includes aquatic invertebrates, crustaceans, arthropods, molluscs, small fish and tadpoles.

[edit] Breeding

They nest on mudflats. The clutch consists of 3-5 eggs which are incubated by both sexes for 22-26 days. The young fledge after about 28 days.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Wikipedia

• List of references

[edit] External Links