# Black-winged stilt (*Himantopus himantopus*)

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

The black-winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus) is a bird in the family Recurvirostridae and the order Charadriiformes. It is a small, partially migratory, terrestrial-foraging aquatic predator of wetland habitats, with an adult body mass of 176.8 g. It lays one clutch of 4 eggs per year, incubates them for 24 days and reaches sexual maturity at 2 years. The IUCN lists it as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category, and checklists record it in Australia.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 160 g – 176.8 g |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Lifespan | 10.2 years |
| Diet | Aquatic predator |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 12.2 years |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | wetland |
| Egg incubation | 23.8 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 3.96 |
| Age at maturity | 23.9 months |
| Litters or clutches a year | 1 |
| Lifestyle | Terrestrial |
| Migration | Partial |
| Conservation status | Least Concern (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | 1 country |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Aves
- order: Charadriiformes
- family: Recurvirostridae
- genus: Himantopus
- species: *Himantopus himantopus* (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms: *Charadrius himantopus*, *Himantopus atropterus*, *Himantopus candidus*, *Himantopus himantopus himantopus*, *Himantopus melanopterus*, *Himantopus rubropterus*, *Himantopus vulgaris*

## 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

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

The black-winged stilt is a bird in the family Recurvirostridae, order Charadriiformes.

### How heavy is the black-winged stilt?

The black-winged stilt has an adult body mass of 176.8 g, which places it in the small size class.

### What does the black-winged stilt eat?

The black-winged stilt is an aquatic predator and a carnivore.

### Is the black-winged stilt endangered?

No. The IUCN lists the black-winged stilt as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.

### How long does the black-winged stilt live?

The black-winged stilt has a lifespan of 10.22 years, with values up to 12.17 years reported.

### How many eggs does the black-winged stilt lay?

The black-winged stilt lays 4 eggs per clutch and one clutch per year, with an incubation period of 24 days.

### Which countries is the black-winged stilt recorded in?

Checklists record the black-winged stilt in Australia.

## 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-winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-winged-stilt