Black Stilt
Himantopus novaezelandiae
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Chordates)
- ClassAves (Birds)
- OrderCharadriiformes (Shorebirds and Allies)
- FamilyRecurvirostridae (Stilts and Avocets)
- GenusHimantopus (Typical Stilts)
- SpeciesHimantopus novaezelandiae (Black Stilt)
About the Black Stilt
The black stilt or kakī (Māori), (Himantopus novaezelandiae) is a wading bird found in New Zealand. It is one of the world's rarest birds, with 169 adults surviving in the wild as of May 2020. Adult kakī have distinctive black plumage, long pink legs, and a long thin black bill. Black stilts largely breed in the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island, and are threatened by introduced feral cats, ferrets, and hedgehogs as well as habitat degradation from hydroelectric dams, agriculture, and invasive weeds.
Black stilts are one of several species in the genus Himantopus, classified along with avocets in the family Recurvirostridae. Although genetically and behaviourally distinct from pied stilts (Himantopus himantopus), they are able to successfully hybridise with them. Hybridisation and dilution of the gene pool is one reason black stilts are threatened with extinction. Black and pied stilts in New Zealand represent two colonisations of pied stilt ancestors from Australia: the first, long ago, giving rise to melanistic descendants, the second in the early 19th century.
Black stilts are a medium-sized (220 g) wader with extremely long pink... Wikipedia →
Recent sightings of Black Stilt in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park
LIVEiNaturalistClosest Relatives at Aoraki Mount Cook National Park
White-headed Stilt
Himantopus leucocephalus
Black-fronted Tern
Chlidonias albostriatus
Dominican Gull
Larus dominicanus
Masked Lapwing
Vanellus miles
South Island Pied Oystercatcher
Haematopus finschi
Black-billed Gull
Chroicocephalus bulleri
Wrybill
Anarhynchus frontalis
Caspian Tern
Hydroprogne caspia
Silver Gull
Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae
VOC
Haematopus unicolor
White-winged Tern
Chlidonias leucopterus
Global Distribution
Warmer areas are where this animal is recorded most often.
Parks Where Found
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aoraki Mount Cook National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 2 | Fiordland National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand |
Quick answers
What are the chances of seeing a Black Stilt in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park?
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black Stilt sighting in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park, based on 18 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data.
When is the best time to see Black Stilt in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park?
August has the highest sighting rate for Black Stilt in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park in our monthly data.