Pied stilts

Pied stilts (Himantopus himantopus leucocephalus) have very long legs. Not flamingo long, but longer than the legs of most wading birds with a body of comparable size found on New Zealand’s coasts and wetlands. Himantopus himantopus is found in warmer parts of the world and is called the black-winged stilt outside of New Zealand. New Zealand’s pied stilt is actually a sub-species that is found throughout Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Pied stilts first established populations in New Zealand in the 1800s. They seem to like it here and cope okay with our introduced predators, unlike the critically endangered black stilt, whose legs are just as long as the pied stilt’s but whose range is not nearly so broad. Black stilts only breed along braided river beds in the South Island, and they are intensively managed by the Department of Conservation. In fact, pied stilts have displaced black stilts to some extent and the two species do interbreed, threatening the black stilt’s survival even more.