Andy Yip ::
Black Winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)
What do they eat? It's long slender legs enable it to wade out into the shallows to forage in wet mud for brine shrimp, molluscs, flies and aquatic insects, jabbing its needle like beak into the mud to capture tiny organisms, but does not submerge or swim to feed.
Where do they live? The Black Winged Stilt is found along the muddy fringes of fresh and brackish water bodies throughout Australia. Although small groups congregate to feed they are nomadic by nature and travel to new feeding grounds under the cover of night.
Some interesting facts! Chicks hatch from patterned eggs that are well camourflages in the ground nest. The chicks are described as precocious, leaving the nest within hours or hatching feeding with remarkable independence.