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Black-necked Stilts show up in small numbers in a few locations in southern Arizona. Their preferred habitat is ponds with muddy margins. These birds are specialists that make a living by foraging for small invertebrates at water’s edge or in shallow water. They have evolved what appear to be impossibly long legs to enable efficient wading. The name “stilt” is appropriate.
Recently, I photographed stilts as they foraged at the edge of a large pond in southeastern Arizona.
Although their legs appear somewhat surrealistic (their pink color adds to the effect), I find stilts to be graceful and very beautiful birds. When one forages, as this one is doing, it walks with slow, deliberate steps. It barely makes a ripple as it hunts.
It seems miraculous to me that a stilt can spot a food item beneath several inches of water, but it can. It uses its beak as forceps to delicately seize prey.
I’ll be showing some more images of stilts in a slightly different context in a few days.
Images made with a Canon R5, Canon EF 400mm f4 DO II lens+Canon EF 1.4x telextender, M setting (auto ISO), first image, ISO 1600, f5.6 @ 1/4000. Second image, ISO 2000, f13 @ 1/2000.
Sonoran Images 