Black necked stilt baby looking for food

Baby black necked stilt searching for food, Gilbert AZ. The Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) is a locally abundant shorebird of American... more

by Bryan Keil

Title

Black necked stilt baby looking for food

Artist

Bryan Keil

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Baby black necked stilt searching for food, Gilbert AZ. The Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) is a locally abundant shorebird of American wetlands and coastlines. It is found from the coastal areas of California through much of the interior western United States and along the Gulf of Mexico as far east as Florida, then south through Central America and the Caribbean to northwest Brazil southwest Peru,east Ecuador and the Galpagos Islands. The northernmost populations, particularly those from inland, are migratory, wintering from the extreme south of the United States to southern Mexico, rarely as far south as Costa Rica; on the Baja California peninsula it is only found regularly in winter.his stilt chooses mudflats, desiccated lacustrine verges, and levees for nest locations, as long as the soil is friable. Reproduction occurs from late April through August in North America, with peak activity in June,while tropical populations usually breed after the rainy season. The nests are typically sited within one kilometer of a feeding location, and the pairs defend an extensive perimeter around groups of nests, patrolling in cooperation with their neighbors. Spacing between nests is approximately 65 ft (c.20 m), but sometimes nests are within 7 ft (2 m) of each other and some nests in the rookery are as far as 130 ft (40 m) from the nearest neighbor. The Black-necked Stilt is actually classified as semicolonial since the nests are rarely found alone and colonies usually number dozens, rarely hundreds of pairs. The nests are frequently established rather close to the water edge, so that their integrity is affected by rising water levels of ponds or tides. This is particularly a hazard in the case of managed salt ponds where water levels may be altered rapidly in the salt pond flooding process. Fine Art America watermark will not appear on purchased artwork.

Uploaded

August 18th, 2013