Subject: Black-necked Stilt, Himantopus mexicanus

Location: Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

Stock Number: MWC-20

Comments: These stilts were fun to watch as they waded around a south Texas pond. I loved their long, improbably colored legs. Note that the water here was not especially shallow, and thus the birds’ legs are considerably longer than this photo may indicate.

They look very elegant, but these stilts could be insistantly territorial. My wife and I saw them drive off more than one species of wading bird that was attempting to share the feeding area.

The stilts posed for some time, but when the shadow of a hawk passed over, they were gone in an instant.