Himantopus himantopus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Bishop, K. David, 2023, The avifauna of Biak Island, Papua, Indonesia with comments on status, conservation, natural history and taxonomy, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 143 (1), pp. 3-62 : 30

***BLACK-WINGED STILT Himantopus himantopus

Status Vagrant. First documented record for Australasia (Beehler & Pratt 2016, Menkhorst et al. 2017). 24 September 2019: an adult male (all-white head) first seen by D. Ashdown and photographed by P. Lansley ( Fig. 8 ), feeding on mudflats in the tsunami swamp. It lacked the black on nape of adult Pied Stilt H. leucocephalus or browner wings with pale fringes to the primaries and coverts of young Pied Stilt, which do have white heads. It lacked the broad white mantle and back of Banded Stilt Cladorhynchus leucocephalus (P. Lansley, eBird checklist S64696799). Widespread throughout the Old World, Black-winged Stilt winters east and south to Borneo ( Eaton et al. 2021) and the Philippines ( Dickinson et al. 1991).

Figures

Figure 8. Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus, Biak, 24 September 2019 (© Peter Langsley)