The Black-Necked Stilt

By: Devin, Naomi, Alexis, and Ruby

Classification

I belong to the
kingdom Animalia
(animals).

I belong to the family

recurvirostridae (long
legged).

I belong to the
Phylum
Chordata (has a
notochord).

I belong to the
genus Himantopus
(strap)

I belong to
the Class
Aves
(birds).

I belong to the order

Charadriiformes
(seabirds)

I belong to the
species H.
Mexicanus (foot)

My binomial name is
Himantopus
mexicanus (strap foot)NG

Body
My legs are long and hot
pink. I have black feathers
on my back and wings
along with white feathers on
my stomach. My beak is
long and black. I am 14.6
inches tall and my wingspan
is 28 inches. I weigh 6.9
ounces.
N.G

Distribution
My family and I are found
from the Western United
States to Central America
and South America. We are
found mostly in the
Northern Hemisphere and
in some parts of the
Southern Hemisphere.

Habitat
I live around shorelines
usually in salt ponds,
flooded lowlands and
lagoons. In my
surroundings, I see a body
of salt water with yellow, tall
grass and a lot of wildlife.

NG

Diet
My favorite food to eat is
crawfish, but I also eat brine
flies, brine shrimp, beetles,
and tadpoles. My cousins
who live in zoos are fed
small lizards, dragon
nymphs, and grasshoppers.

NG

Food Web
Everything that I eat also
depends on some things
that I dont eat. If an
organism even as small as
algae becomes extinct, It
will effect my existence.
Every organism in my
environment depends on
other organisms.
NG

Conservation Status
My species is least
concerned in the IUCN Red
List because of our big
population. Our numbers
are increasing due to the
long range of land we have.
I have over 150,000
breeding kin in the U.S
alone.
NG

Homeostasis
I maintain a stable internal temperature by
going to shallow wetlands in the western of
the U.S to Central America. Though most of
the time I am found in salt ponds, shallow
lagoons, flooded lowlands ,and etc I also
maintain my homeostasis during spring by
migrating to ricelands, muddy shores, and
etc It also depends what time of the year
it is because in winter I go to evaporation
ponds, sewage ponds, and etc..

Senses
My senses are helpful to me
because I can keep annoying
predator away, but sometimes
I get so agitated and I call
loudly. Sometimes when I see
and hear predator I also call
out but this time I go
kit,kit,kit. there are also times
where I just go and attack or
mob them.
R.C.

Movement
My greatest feature to travel is
my long neon pink legs. The
way I move through my
environment is in different ways
because I either fly, wade, or
just simply walk through water.
The reason I was built, was for
my long luscious legs used for
wading and foraging food.

R.C

Food

I deal with food by plunging my head into the water

and then my legs wade through the water. My
beak is helpful because it lets me grasp my food.
My legs let me wade through water to get my food.
My wings help me fly to plunge my head quickly
and get food. My digestive activities are
maintenance, enhancement, and vegetation
management. I also have a digestive tract to have
nutrients throughout their whole body. I eat a lot of
fish thats why I have invertebrates in my digestive
system and use cast pallets to eliminate
exoskeletons.

PROTECTION
So my predators wont eat me at times I
fake an injury. When the predators are near
my babies I mock them to distract them
from my nests. The thing that keeps my
nest protected from the predator is my
partner. While Im distracting the predator
my partner is hiding the babies and
protecting himself. Then, I just hide and the
predator gets confused on which animal to
eat. Also, I shelter is also living in tall grass.

STORING RESOURCES
The way I behave to store resources is by
going to the shore and store resources like
salt marshes and then bay lands to be
used later. I also use the anti-behavior
called The Popcorn Display. Which is
basically when groups of adult birds circle
up on a ground predator and hop side to
side while flapping their wings. The way I
store fat,water,and other resources is by
using crab eggs.

R.C

Male Physical
Characteristics
and
My characteristics
is that I
have a greenish gloss on
Reproductive Behaviors
the back of my wings. The
chicks also love my long,
straight beak. But under all
these handsome feathers of
mine Im very helpful in my
community I help watch the
eggs.
D.C

Female Physical
Well. I dont know much about
Characteristics
and
the girls ,because
Im a guy bird,
but Ill try my best to explain this.
Reproductive Behaviors
All I know is that they have
beautiful brown wings and that
they also help watching the eggs
that we have. I dont like talking
about girls because its
awkward. I mean what kind of
bird do you take me as.
D.C

Copulation and
Fertilization
This is also an awkward
topic, but I guess I have to
talk about it. Mating and
fertilization is achieved by
depositing sperm into the
female body. And if you
were wondering, we use
internal fertilization.
D.C

Offspring
The girls clutch size is like 3-5
eggs. Thats a lot. Incubation
period usually takes between
22-26 days. But we take turns
watching the eggs. The young
can usually swim 2 hours after
birth and can breed after 1 or
2 years. This is why we travel
in large groups.
D.C

Environmental Effects
We are actually
pretty picky when it
comes to the
environment. We will
only mate in rainy
seasons. We will
mate in months like
April - August.
D.C

Resources
I am not a very well known
bird, so I am not in any real
danger. Sure there are a
few cases when my kind
has been trapped or shot
but not a lot happens to me.

A.V

Habitat Destruction
Even though I dont have a
lot of people attacking me,
they do go after my habitat.
They drain my wetlands,
they put toxics in my water,
and make it hard for me to
live there so I end up having
to move.
A.V

Pest or Danger
I dont really like to think of
myself as a pest, I just dont
like a lot of others. If an
animal or human gets to
close I distract them. Then
when they are not looking I
attack(more like mob or
punk).
A.V

Cultural Significance
I am not really known for
anything big, Im just sort of
there. I dont have anything
of cultural significance. But
a popular folk story for my
species, the bird, is called
Rainbow Crow.

A.V

Conservation Efforts
Because a lot of people
dont know about me not a
lot of people try to help but
one of the groups that have
tried to save me and other
birds are called Audubon.

A.V

Zoo Care
A lot of zoos dont have me
in them but there are many
birds in zoos and we are
treated with much respect
and lots of people enjoy
seeing us.

A.V

Classification
and
general
Websites
Images
facts Bibliography

Wikipedia : Black-necked Stilt 2015. 14

Jan. 2016
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-necked_S
tilt
All About Birds : Black-necked Stilt 2015. 15 Jan.
2016
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-necked_St
ilt/lifehistory
Aquarium of Pacific : Black-necked Stilt 2016. 14
Jan. 2016
http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningce
nter/species/black_necked_stilt
IUCN Red List : Black-necked Stilt 2015. 14 Jan.
2016 http://www.iucnredlist.org

Link for Imageshttps://docs.google.com/a/edisoncomputech.com/docume

nt/d/1_LQoRLVGnqNd8q3XPqFZT_yYfjUfyOanqRmuvoCekms/
it?usp=sharing

Adaptation BibliograpHy
Websites:

Images:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bla
ck-necked_Stilt_RWD4.jpg
https://www.sanelijo.org/animal-guide/black-ne
https://docs.google.com/a/edisoncomputech.com/doc
cked-stilt
ument/d/1y3mukbR9kTodwTHhTMNjdytR9pAl9BYxE3s7iK06

http://www.pbase.com/raul_q/image/9849646
50o/edit?usp=sharing
8
http://www.grahamowengallery.com/photograph
/stilts.html
https://www.carolinabirdclub.org/gallery/Cathy
_Miller/bnst_2.html
http://hawaiianforest.com/wp/hawaiian-stilt-b
reeding-season/
http://www.pbase.com/raul_q/image/9849646
8
https://www.flickr.com/photos/emiliechenpho
to/17873321432
http://cmboviewfromthecape.blogspot.com/20
09_05_01_archive.html

Bibliography
Websites
Pbase: Stilts 2015 14 Jan. 2016
http://www.pbase.com/tgrey/stilts
Birding Information:

Link for images:

https://docs.google.com/a/edisoncompute
ch.com/document/d/14QtfnFT9xH4N4M9vREkn
8ePJvAno7V42sIrZcKIOgxA/edit?usp=docsli
st_api

Bibliography
Websites:

Images:

"Himantopus mexicanus at Cornell Birds of North America."

2012. 15 Jan. 2016 <
http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/search?SearchableText=
Himantopus%20mexicanus
>
Sordahl, TA. "BioOne Online Journals - Field evidence of
predator ..." 2004. <
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1648/0273-8570-75.4.376>
Black-necked Stilt | Audubon California." 2015. 20 Jan. 2016
<http://ca.audubon.org/birds-0/black-necked-stilt>

Slide 24 Image
Side 25 Image