# Black stilt (*Himantopus novaezelandiae*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-stilt  
Data as of: 2026-11-11

The black stilt (Himantopus novaezelandiae) is a species in the family Recurvirostridae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 161 g to 223 g and live up to 10.2 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Critically Endangered.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 161 g – 223 g |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Lifespan | 10.2 years |
| Diet | Aquatic predator |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 19 years |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | wetland |
| Egg incubation | 23.8 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 4 |
| Age at maturity | 23.9 months |
| Litters or clutches a year | 1 |
| Lifestyle | Terrestrial |
| Migration | Partial |
| Conservation status | Critically Endangered (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | 1 country |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Aves
- order: Charadriiformes
- family: Recurvirostridae
- genus: Himantopus
- species: *Himantopus novaezelandiae* Gould, 1841

Synonyms: *Himantopus himantopus novae-zelandiae*, *Himantopus novaezealandiae*

## Countries on record

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.

Australia

## Common questions

### How big is the black stilt?

An adult black stilt weighs 161 g – 223 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

### Where does the black stilt live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the black stilt for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

### Is the black stilt endangered?

The black stilt is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

### How long does the black stilt live?

The black stilt has a recorded lifespan of 10.2 years.

### What kind of animal is the black stilt?

The black stilt (Himantopus novaezelandiae) belongs to the family Recurvirostridae in the order Charadriiformes.

## Sources

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), 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](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7), 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](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), 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](https://commons.wikimedia.org), 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](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), 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).

Cite as: Black stilt (Himantopus novaezelandiae). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-stilt