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- Andrew Reitsma
- One of our Black-necked Stilts in its exhibit at the Aquarium.
Black-necked Stilts are usually migratory birds but there are some resident populations in coastal southern California and western Mexico. There is a very large resident population at San Francisco Bay where they mingle with resident American Avocets, Recurvirostra americana. There are smaller groups at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge, and the northern area of Upper Newport Bay. Living and nesting in flocks, they are gregarious, noisy, and aggressive birds.
Facts and Features
- Geographic Distribution
Atlantic coast from Delaware south and Pacific coast from Oregon south to Peru and the Galapagos Islands, Central US as far inland as Idaho and Kansas, and Gulf of Mexico states. Most winter south of North America.
- Amazing Facts
California’s Salton Sea is a last migratory stop along the Pacific Flyway for Black-necked Stilts as they head south. Here flocks of as many as 10,000 stilts stop to feed. The Sea’s increasing salinity and pollution of fish that are eaten by the stilts may have adverse effects on this migratory population.
- At the Aquarium
Our Black-necked Stilts are named Oscar and Audrey. Both came to us from the Pacific Wildlife Project (PWP). An egg was taken from a nest by a child who took it to school for “show and tell”. The egg was turned over to PWP where it was given to a dove to incubate. After hatching, it was determined that the bird could not be released in the wild because of a deformity that prevented him from flying so Oscar came to the Aquarium. Audrey was rescued from the wild with an injury that made it necessary to remove its wing with the result that he too could not fly. (We found out Audrey was a female after he was incorrectly named.) Our stilts each weigh 140 gm. (4.9 oz).
