Black-winged Stilt

Himantopus himantopus

Other Names

  Common Stilt   Échasse blanche   Stelzenläufer   Cigüeñuela Común   Styltlöpare   Steltkluut   Cavaliere d'Italia

World: South and Central America, southern parts of North America; France and Iberia south to sub-saharan Africa and east to Central Asia, India, Northern China and Indochina and Taiwan; Indonesia south to Australia and New Zealand; the Philippines; Hawaii.

Kenya: Mainly absent from the North-West and East of Kenya, elsewhere common August to April, somewhat less so May to July.

One of Kenya's common water birds the Black-winged Stilt is found on most lakes and is frequently seen around waterholes and on the edges of marshes feeding on small insects. You can usually count on seeing fairly large numbers at Amboseli. The only bird that looks anything like it is the Pied Avocet which besides having a different pattern has a very noticeably curved beak. There are a number of different subspecies found around the world and these are sometimes treated as different species, however the only one seen in Kenya is the nominate ssp himantopus. Stilt usually breed after the rains, nesting on the ground or on floating water weeds.