The Black-Necked Stilt likes
fresh or salty shallow areas and grassy marshes. It is a
tall, small bodied wading bird, black above and white below,
with very long, bright pink legs.
Stilts
run very fast, but then stop suddenly, bend their long legs
and pick up something from the ground. They look quite unusual
when they do this - their little bodies look like they are
going up in an elevator as their legs raise them straight
up and just keep going and going!
Their
food consists of things like water snails, insects, worms,
water beetles,grasshoppers and their larvae,
mussels, grass shrimp, minnows and crawdads.
They build
their nests in May, on a dry mud flat or on a hummock in
the marsh where they have a clear view all around. They build
their nests of old grass and gradually add to its height
with dry twigs, grass roots, shells, and other debris until
the whole nest may weigh two or three pounds. When you live
in a marsh you need to worry about high water flooding the
house!
While
the females are sitting, the males watch for and chase away
intruders.
What
I thought was particularly interesting about this bird is
that , living in a hot environment, they have a great way
to cool off the nest. What
they do is called "belly-soaking".
They carry water in their ventral feathers to the nest...sometimes
more than 100 trips in a day!
<<< Lowell
Silverman identified this bird for me. He has some very nice
bird photos on his site.>>>
