Black-necked Stilt / Amerikaanse Steltkluut

Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)

Pictures (click on them to enlarge)
© Arie Spaans	© Ton Plug	French Guiana © Alexandre Renaudier
Aruba © Greg Peterson	Aruba © Greg Peterson	Aruba © Jan Hein Ribot

The Black-necked Stilt is black and white with very long pink legs. These legs stick out far beyond the tail in flight. With them the birds can wade in deeper water than most other birds, but they make them a bit clumsy on dry land if they want to reach for the ground or want to sit down. Stilts are found in the warmer regions all over the world. In Suriname they are mostly seen in small groups (pairs) near the coast in brakkish lagoons. The distribution by month of these observations of groups of stilts is given below. Most are seen in June-July, but larger groups (hundred birds and more) were seen by François Haverschmidt in November and December.They breed in Suriname, most nests with three or four nests and most of them were found by Arie Spaans or Francois Haverschmidt.
The first photo of a Black-necked Stilt is made in a swamp near Wageningen in Suriname by Arie Spaans, then one by Alexandre Renaudier in the rice fields of Mana in French Guiana in August 2007. The next two by Greg Peterson on Aruba in 2009 and one by Jan Hein Ribot on the same island in March 2014.
There is also a short video of a calling stilt, made on Curaçao by Faroek Lissone.

Video (click the link or the 'play'-button to see)
Video recording of a Black-necked Stilt © ;

Distribution

Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least four observations on different days and the largest ones ten or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest.
Not all places in Suriname have been equally often visited by birders, so the distribution of the squares gives an indication of the whereabouts of the birds, but also of the birders. Some places deep in the south have no reported bird observations, by experienced birders, within 60 kilometer.

Abundance in different areas
coastal zone (blue dots on the map) :
northern savannas (yellow dots (in the north)) :
rainforest under 400 m (red dots) :
rainforest above 400 m (red dots) :
Sipaliwini savanna (yellow dots (in the south)) :
A blank is shown if not convincingly reported in the zone. Data interpreted by Arie Spaans, Otte Ottema and Jan Hein Ribot.

Names
Scientific name:	Himantopus mexicanus
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Recurvirostridae, 1 in Suriname
Dutch:	Amerikaanse Steltkluut
English:	Black-necked Stilt
Sranan ('Surinamese'):
Guyana:
Papiamento:	Macamba, Redado
Spanish (Venezuela):	Viuda patilarga
Portugese (Brazil):	Pernilongo
Arowak:	Sjalielolia
Carib:	Sjalielolia
French:	Echasse à cou noire

Observations through the year	Observations of breeding through the year

The 94 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.	The 22 reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest. Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences. The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Observations through the year

Observations of breeding through the year

The 94 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.

The 22 reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest.

Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences.
The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Last update: September 2024 by Jan Hein Ribot. Please mail your comments, photos to: jhribot ( residing at ) gmail (point!) com.
observations can be uploaded to suriname.observation.org or ebird.org ).