Black-winged Stilt
Himantopus himantopus
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Chordates)
- ClassAves (Birds)
- OrderCharadriiformes (Shorebirds and Allies)
- FamilyRecurvirostridae (Stilts and Avocets)
- GenusHimantopus (Typical Stilts)
- SpeciesHimantopus himantopus (Black-winged Stilt)
About the Black-winged Stilt
The black-winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus) is a widely distributed, very long-legged wader in the avocet and stilt family Recurvirostridae. Its scientific name, Himantopus himantopus, is sometimes used to generalize a single, almost cosmopolitan species. Alternatively, it is restricted to the form that is widespread in Europe, Asia and Africa, which equals the nominate group of H. himantopus sensu lato. Meanwhile, the black-necked (H. mexicanus) and white-backed stilts (H. melanurus) both inhabit the Americas; the pied stilt (H. leucocephalus) ranges from Australia and New Zealand. Today, most sources accept between one and four actual species.
The black-winged stilt was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the plovers in the genus Charadrius and coined the binomial name Charadrius himantopus. He specified the type locality as southern Europe. The taxonomic name Himantopus comes from Greek, meaning "strap-foot" or "thong-foot". The black-winged stilt is now one of five species placed in the genus Himantopus that was introduced by the French naturalist Mathurin Jacques Brisson... Wikipedia →
Closest Relatives at Camargue
Pied Avocet
Recurvirostra avosetta
Black-headed Gull
Chroicocephalus ridibundus
Yellow-legged Gull
Larus michahellis
Eurasian Curlew
Numenius arquata
Black-bellied Plover
Pluvialis squatarola
Common Redshank
Tringa totanus
Common Greenshank
Tringa nebularia
Common Sandpiper
Actitis hypoleucos
Slender-billed Gull
Chroicocephalus genei
Green Sandpiper
Tringa ochropus
Dunlin
Calidris alpina
Gull-billed Tern
Gelochelidon nilotica
Global Distribution
Where this species is recorded worldwide. Restricted to human observations from 2019 onwards — the same kind of record and the same period the probabilities on this page are built from, so collar-tracking studies, camera-trap arrays and museum specimens are excluded. Around Santa Rosa that removes 5,924 GPS fixes from a handful of tagged jaguars.
where this species is recorded (GBIF density — it tracks where observers go, not how likely a sighting is) · parks where it occurs — tap a pin for the sighting probability there
Parks Where Found
Quick answers
What are the chances of seeing a Black-winged Stilt in Camargue?
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Black-winged Stilt sighting in Camargue, based on 489 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data.
When is the best time to see Black-winged Stilt in Camargue?
July has the highest sighting rate for Black-winged Stilt in Camargue in our monthly data.