White-backed stilt: Difference between revisions

White-backed stilt
	White-backed stilts (H. melanurus) Pantanal, Brazil
Conservation status
	Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Recurvirostridae
Genus:	Himantopus
Species:	H. melanurus
Binomial name
	Himantopus melanurus; (Vieillot, 1817)
Synonyms
	Himantopus himantopus melanurus; Himantopus mexicanus melanurus

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The white-backed stilt (Himantopus melanurus) is a locally abundant shorebird of South American wetlands and coastlines. It is found from northwest Brazil to southwest Peru and southcentral Argentina.

Taxonomy

It is sometimes treated as a subspecies of the common or black-winged stilt, using the trinomial name Himantopus himantopus melanurus.^[1] The AOS considers it a subspecies of the black-necked stilt, where it is considered parapatric and intergrading to some extent with its northern relative where their ranges meet, would warrant inclusion with the black-necked stilt when this is separated specifically.

Distribution and habitat

The black-necked stilt is found in estuarine, lacustrine, salt pond and emergent wetland habitats; it is generally a lowland bird but is commonly seen in llanos habitat in northern South America.

Food and feeding

The white-backed stilt forages by probing and gleaning primarily in mudflats and lakeshores, but also in very shallow waters near shores; it seeks out a range of aquatic invertebrates – mainly crustaceans and other arthropods, and mollusks – and small fish, tadpoles and very rarely plant seeds. Its mainstay food varies according to availability; inland birds usually feed mainly on aquatic insects and their larvae, while coastal populations mostly eat other aquatic invertebrates. For feeding areas they prefer coastal estuaries, salt ponds, lakeshores, alkali flats and even flooded fields. For roosting and resting needs, this bird selects alkali flats (even flooded ones), lake shores, and islands surrounded by shallow water.

Breeding

This stilt chooses mudflats, desiccated lacustrine verges, and levees for nest locations, as long as the soil is friable. The nests are typically sited within 1 km (0.62 mi) of a feeding location, and the pairs defend an extensive perimeter around groups of nests, patrolling in cooperation with their neighbors.^[2] Spacing between nests is approximately 65 ft (20 m), but sometimes nests are within 7 ft (2.1 m) of each other and some nests in the rookery are as far as 130 ft (40 m) from the nearest neighbor. The nests are frequently established rather close to the water edge, so that their integrity is affected by rising water levels of ponds or tides. This is particularly a hazard in the case of managed salt ponds where water levels may be altered rapidly in the salt pond flooding process.^[3]

The clutch size generally is 3–5 eggs with an average of four. For 22–26 days both sexes take turns incubating the eggs. The young are so precocial that they are seen swimming within two hours after hatching^[4] and are also capable of rapid land velocity at that early time. In spite of this early development the young normally return to the nest for resting for one or two more days. They fledge after about one month but remain dependent on their parents for some more weeks. Birds begin to breed at 1–2 years of age.

Notes

^ E.g. Pierce (1996)
^ Hamilton (1975)
^ Rigney & Rigney (1981)
^ Harrison (1978)

References

Bent, A.C. (1927). "Life Histories of North American Shorebirds: Order Limicolae (Part I)". Bulletin of the U.S. National Museum. 142: 1–420.
Template:IUCN2006
Template:IUCN2006
BirdLife International (BLI) [2008]: Black-necked Stilt Species Factsheet. Retrieved 2008-SEP-24.
Brattstrom, Bayard H.; Howell, Thomas R. (1956). "The Birds of the Revilla Gigedo Islands, Mexico" (PDF). Condor. 58 (2): 107–120. doi:10.2307/1364977. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |lastauthoramp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
Corman, T. & Wise-Gervais, C. (2005): Arizona Breeding Bird Atlas. University of New Mexico Press.
Dronen, Norman O.; Gardner, Scott L.; Jiménez, F. Agustín (2006). "Selfcoelum limnodromi n. gen., n. sp. (Digenea: Cyclocoelidae: Cyclocoelinae) from the long-billed dowitcher, Limnodromus scolopaceus (Charadriiformes: Scolopacidae) from Oklahoma, U.S.A." (PDF). Zootaxa. 1131: 49–58. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |lastauthoramp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
Garrett, K. & Dunn, J. (1981): Birds of Southern California. Los Angeles Audubon Society.
Hamilton, Robert Bruce (1975). "Comparative Behavior of the American Avocet and the Black-necked Stilt (Recurvirostridae)" (PDF). Ornithological Monographs. 17: 1–98. doi:10.2307/40166701.
Harrison, Colin (1978): A field guide to the nests, eggs and nestlings of North American birds. W. Collins and Company, Cleveland, Ohio.
Hays, Warren S.T.; Conant, Sheila (2007). "Biology and Impacts of Pacific Island Invasive Species. 1. A Worldwide Review of Effects of the Small Indian Mongoose, Herpestes javanicus (Carnivora: Herpestidae)". Pacific Science. 61 (1): 3–16. doi:10.2984/1534-6188(2007)61[3:BAIOPI]2.0.CO;2. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |lastauthoramp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
McCaskie, G.; DeBenedictus, D.; Erickson, R. & Morlan, J. (1979): Birds of Northern California, an annotated field list (2nd ed.). Golden Gate Audubon Society, Berkeley, California.
Pierce, Ray J. (1996): 1. Black-winged Stilt. In: del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi (eds.): Handbook of Birds of the World (Volume 3: Hoatzin to Auks): 345, plate 31. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. ISBN 84-87334-20-2
Ransom, Kay et al. (1984): Environmental Impact Report for the Corinthian Villas Project on Richardson Bay. Report prepared for the city of Mill Valley by Earth Metrics Inc.
Rigney, M. & Rigney, T. (1981): A breeding bird survey of the south San Francisco Bay salt pond levee system. U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge special report
Robinson, Julie A., J. Michael Reed, Joseph P. Skorupa and Lewis W. Oring. (1999). Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Birds of North America.
Sibley, David Allen (2003): The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of North America. Alfred A. Knopf, New York ISBN 067945120X.
Sordahl, T. A. 1980. Antipredator behavior and parental care in the American Avocet and Black-necked Stilt (Aves: Recurvirostridae). Phd Thesis. Utah State Univ. Logan.
Zeiner, David C.; Laudenslayer, William F. & Meyer, Kenneth E. (eds.) (1988): California Wildlife (Vol.2, Birds). California Department of Fish and Game.

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 ==Taxonomy==
-It is sometimes treated as a [[subspecies]] of the common or [[black-winged stilt]], using the [[trinomial name]] ''Himantopus himantopus melanurus''.<ref>E.g. Pierce (1996)</ref> The [[American Ornithological Society|AOS]] has considered it a [[subspecies]] of the [[black-necked stilt]], where it is considered [[parapatric]] and intergrading to some extent with its northern relative where their ranges meet, would warrant inclusion with the black-necked stilt when this is separated specifically.
+It is sometimes treated as a [[subspecies]] of the common or [[black-winged stilt]], using the [[trinomial name]] ''Himantopus himantopus melanurus''.<ref>E.g. Pierce (1996)</ref> The [[American Ornithological Society|AOS]] considers it a [[subspecies]] of the [[black-necked stilt]], where it is considered [[parapatric]] and intergrading to some extent with its northern relative where their ranges meet, would warrant inclusion with the black-necked stilt when this is separated specifically.
 ==Distribution and habitat==