Montana Field Guide

The Black-necked Stilt is a tall, slender wader with a long, straight, and slender bill, the upperparts glossy black (male) or duller black tinged with brown (female) with a white spot above the eye, underparts white, the legs and feet very long and red or pink. The iris is red. Immatures have buffy edges on the dark brown feathers of the upperparts.

For a comprehensive review of the conservation status, habitat use, and ecology of this and other Montana bird species, please see Marks et al. 2016, Birds of Montana.

The black and white plumage and very long red legs of this species are unique and diagnostic.

Migratory. Black-necked Stilts usually arrive in Montana in the last half of April and are gone by late August. Long-distance movements among breeding sites in response to drought may lead to permanent changes in distribution. The earliest sighting is at Freezeout Lake on 22 March 2007 and the latest is at Freezeout Lake on 28 September 2009.

Black-necked Stilts breed on the edges of shallow marshes, often on islands, building a scrape that is lined with vegetation, pebbles, and feathers. Nests may be out in the open or among low vegetation and are usually within 50 m of water (Robinson et al. 1999). Taking full advantage of their long legs, almost all feeding occurs in the water. In Montana, Black-necked Stilts nest in medium to large wetland complexes of open marshes and meadows, often in alkali wetlands. Habitats used during migration similar to those used in other seasons, but they also occur on coastal mud flats.

Diet consists of aquatic invertebrates and fish. Brine flies and brine shrimp favored on salt ponds. In freshwater wetlands, crawfish, a diversity of aquatic insects (Hemiptera, Coleoptera, Diptera), snails, and small vertebrates (fish and frogs) are consumed (Robinson et al. 1999)

Strongly territorial during breeding and winter. Predators of adults include several species of hawks and owls, Great Blue Heron, and Red Fox. Predators of eggs and young include the same species as well as gulls, Common Raven and Black-billed Magpie, Coyote, and Gopher Snake. Adults will mob predators. BBS data do not exist for Montana, but data from 1980-2007 indicate a significant increase in numbers of 2.8% per year throughout the species’ range in the U.S. and Canada. High numbers for Montana include 102 birds at Lake Bowdoin on 21 June 1989 and 106 tallied at Benton Lake on 20 May 1991.

Eggs are laid in May and hatch in June, and young begin flying in July. Nesting first occurred during the “major incursion” of 1977 (Skaar 1980), which coincided with a severe drought in the Great Basin that forced birds to wander north in search of favorable breeding conditions. Stilts appeared at many locations in that year, and breeding was documented at Freezeout Lake, Lake Bowdoin NWR, and Benton Lake NWR; one nest with 4 eggs was reported at Benton Lake on 14 May 1977. Stilts are now common breeders at these sites. Elsewhere east of the divide, they nested at Big Lake in 1998 and in the Helena Valley in 2001. The first nest known from west of the divide was at the Blasdel WPA near Somers in 2000, and one pair also nested there in 2001 and 2002. Stilts nested in the Mission Valley as early as 2003 and probably have nested there in small numbers every year since. Single pairs nested at the Smurfit-Stone Container ponds in the Missoula Valley in 2004 and 2007 and at Lee Metcalf NWR in 2004. Stilt nests are a simple scrape located on the ground, often in a somewhat or completely open area. The nest is typically found near the edge of the water and the nest bottom may be wet. The normal clutch consists of 4 eggs, incubation varies from 21-30 days (depending on thermal environment), the precocial chicks leave the nest in less than one day after the last chick hatches.

No management activities specific to Black-necked Stilt are currently occuring in Montana. Although their breeding range is expanding, stilt numbers probably are well below historical levels owing to the loss and degradation of wetlands that accompanied settlement of the western U.S. (Page and Gill 1994). Stilts will move nesting areas in response to changes in water level fluctuations, and respond favorably to construction of artificial wetlands. Black-necked Stilt is regarded as an important indicator species in identifying effects of contaminants in irrigation drain water on wildlife.

In some parts of their range, stilt eggs contain high levels of DDT residues, and hatchlings suffer deformities and mortality because of selenium contamination that originates from agricultural practices (Robinson et al. 1999). Loss or degradation of wetland habitats remain as significant threats.