The Story
I photographed this Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) at Hacienda La Cabaña, near Tauramena, Casanare, Colombia, in January 2020. It lives in wetlands and along coasts from the western United States south to Brazil, Peru and the Galápagos. It has long pink legs and a long, thin black bill. Males have a greenish gloss on the back and wings, while females are browner there. It forages by probing and picking at prey on mudflats, lakeshores and flooded fields, taking shrimp, insects, mollusks, small fish and tadpoles. IUCN lists it as Least Concern, with a stable population.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200. Its North American populations declined in the twentieth century, mainly through habitat conversion and pollution, but overall it remains healthy across a large range.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) belongs to the family Recurvirostridae (Stilts and Avocets) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025), with the population trend listed as stable. IUCN does not yet assess the Black-necked Stilt separately; this is the assessment of Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus), which IUCN treats as including it. Source: IUCN Red List