Common Name: Black-necked Stilt
Scientific Name: Himantopus mexicanus
Description: They have long pink legs and a long thin black bill. They are white below and have black wings and backs. The tail is white with some grey banding. A continuous area of black extends from the back along the hind neck to the head. There, it forms a cap covering the entire head from the top to just below eye-level, with the exception of the areas surrounding the bill and a small white spot above the eye. Males have a greenish gloss to the back and wings, particularly in the breeding season. This is less pronounced or absent in females, which have a brown tinge to these areas instead. Otherwise, the sexes look alike.
Distribution: At the Salton Sea, the black-necked stilt is resident year-round. It also breeds along lake shores in northeastern California and southeastern Oregon as well as along the Colorado River. In North America outside California, the black-necked stilt rarely breeds inland, but it is known as a breeding bird in riparian locales in Arizona and elsewhere in the southern USA. Where their ranges meet in northern Brazil and central Peru, the black-necked and white-backed stilts intergrade. They are resident in Las Vegas from spring to summer and early fall.
Habitat: The black-necked stilt is found in estuarine, lacustrine, salt pond and emergent wetland habitats; it is generally a lowland bird but in Central America has been found up to 8,200 ft (2,500 m).
Juveniles look similar to adults but are more brown with paler pink legs. Also the feathers are more scalloped on the back and sides.
Fall migration of the northernly birds takes place from July to September, and they return to the breeding grounds between March and May. Usually, the entire population breeding at any one site arrives, mates, incubates eggs for about a month, and protects and broods the young until they are capable of sustained flight (at 27–31 days old) and leaves again migrating in flocks of about 15 individuals sometimes juveniles congregating in small groups and other times siblings with family groups.