Black-necked Stilt, Himantopus mexicanus
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![]() Black-necked Stilts, like their cousins the American Avocets, are present year-round in good numbers in the Bay Area, to the great pleasure of local birders and photographers. Males (above) have all-black backs while the backs of females (below) show some brown. These birds are celebrated for their exceptionally-long (stilt-like) bright-pink legs. |
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![]() Another female. |
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![]() A first-cycle female, age indicated by the lighter pink of the legs and the light base of the bill. |
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![]() Above and below, males, walking in water and flying, with all-black upperparts. |
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![]() Pair flying close together in perfect unison, during nesting season, female above with brown upperparts feathers, male all-black. | |
![]() In mid-summer, stilts show worn old feathers and new ones molting in, best seen in flight, above and below. |
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![]() Above, part of the courting ritual; the female, nearer, adopts the receptive position with neck extended, while the male splashes water on his chest. | |
![]() Above, the pair mates. | |
![]() And finally, after mating, the pair does a ritual dance together, similar to that of the American Avocets. | |
![]() Incubating a clutch of eggs to hatching is a risky proposition; above, a pair watches as a gopher snake invades their nest, lower right. The snake ultimately ate all four eggs. A close-up from this photo showing the snake in the nest, with one egg in its mouth, is here , and a sequence of pictures showing the whole sad event is here . | |
,![]() Despite the risks, nesting usually results in live chicks, which the adults then must protect and feed. Above, an adult male stilt showing a behavior I'd never even know existed before I saw this instance of it: sheltering a newly hatched chick under his wing. Below, an adult female with a downy chick. |
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![]() Above, an adult male with a mostly-grown juvenile that is begging food; below, a similar juvenile, too large to be carried under the male parent's wing as shown further up the page, still seeks and receives shelter there. |
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![]() The brown scalloping on the feathers and the brownish-pink legs indicate that the bird above is a juvenile. Finally, below is a three-picture sequence of a downy chick, displaying all the steadiness afoot of any toddler. |
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