Banded stilt
Cladorhynchus leucocephalus (Vieillot, 1816)
The banded stilt (Cladorhynchus leucocephalus) is a species in the family Recurvirostridae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 215.2 g to 261 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the banded stilt
- Weight
- 215.2 g – 261 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.25 – 3.5src for Young per litter or clutch
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Where does the banded stilt live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The banded stilt is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the banded stilt?
The banded stilt (Cladorhynchus leucocephalus) is a wader of the stilt and avocet family, Recurvirostridae, native to Australia. It belongs to the monotypic genus Cladorhynchus. It gets its name from the red-brown breast band found on breeding adults, though this is mottled or entirely absent in non-breeding adults and juveniles. Its remaining plumage is pied and the eyes are dark brown. Nestling banded stilts have white down, unlike any other species of wader.
Breeding is triggered by the filling of inland salt lakes by rainfall, creating large shallow lakes rich in tiny shrimp on which the birds feed. A nomadic species, banded stilts migrate to these lakes in large numbers and assemble in large breeding colonies. The female lays three to four brown- or black-splotched whitish eggs on a scrape. If conditions are favourable, a second brood might be laid, though if the lakes dry up prematurely the breeding colonies may be abandoned.
The banded stilt is considered to be a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Under the South Australian National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972, however, this bird is considered to be Vulnerable. This is due to the predation of it by silver gulls, which are considered to be a serious threat. Black falcons and wedge-tailed eagles are also predators, taking the banded stilt and its young.
From the Wikipedia article “Banded stilt” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Banded_stilt&oldid=1381695586), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the banded stilt endangered?
The banded stilt is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the banded stilt classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCharadriiformes
- familyRecurvirostridae
- genusCladorhynchus
- SpeciesCladorhynchus leucocephalus (Vieillot, 1816)
Synonyms Cladorhynchus leucocephalus rottnesti, Leptorhynchus pectoralis, Recurvirostra leucocephala
Other names and names in other languages (33)
- كرسوع مخططArabic
- camallarga capblancaCatalan
- pisila australskáCzech
- hirgoes torchogWelsh
- Rødbrystet StylteløberDanish
- SchlammstelzerGerman
- brunbrusta himantopodoEsperanto
- Cigueñuela PechirrojaSpanish
- Cigüeñuela pechirrojaSpanish
- punarind-karkjalgEstonian
- vyöpitkäjalkaFinnish
- Échasse à tête blancheFrench
- Cladorhynque à tête blancheFrench
- תמירון אוסטרליHebrew
- smeđoprsa vlastelicaCroatian
- iszaptöcsHungarian
- Cavaliere fasciatoItalian
- ムネアカセイタカシギJapanese
- geltonkojė avocetėLithuanian
- bandsteltkluutDutch
- beltestylteløperNorwegian
- szydłodzióbPolish
- pernilongo-de-peito-ruivoPortuguese
- pernilongo-de-peito-vermelhoPortuguese
- Полосатый ходулочникRussian
- Рыжегрудый ходулочникRussian
- šišila bahennáSlovak
- Ogrličasta vlastelicaSerbian
- bandstyltlöpareSwedish
- Kuşaklı UzunbacakTurkish
- кулик-довгоніг австралійськийUkrainian
- 斑长脚鹬Chinese
- 斑高蹺鴴Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the banded stilt
Other species in the same family Recurvirostridae.
Black-winged stilt
Himantopus himantopus
Pied avocet
Recurvirostra avosetta
Black stilt
Himantopus novaezelandiae
American avocet
Recurvirostra americana
Andean avocet
Recurvirostra andina
Red-necked avocet
Recurvirostra novaehollandiae
CompareBanded stilt vs Black-winged stiltBanded stilt vs Pied avocetBanded stilt vs Black stiltBanded stilt vs American avocet
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the banded stilt?
An adult banded stilt weighs 215.2 g – 261 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the banded stilt live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the banded stilt for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the banded stilt endangered?
The banded stilt is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
What kind of animal is the banded stilt?
The banded stilt (Cladorhynchus leucocephalus) belongs to the family Recurvirostridae in the order Charadriiformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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CreatureData. (2026). Banded stilt (Cladorhynchus leucocephalus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/banded-stilt
“Banded stilt (Cladorhynchus leucocephalus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/banded-stilt.
@misc{banded_stilt_2026,
title = {Banded stilt (Cladorhynchus leucocephalus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/banded-stilt},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}