Large. Long necked, long thin straight bill, and extremely long thin legs. Sexes similar.
Male: Breeding: All white except, back, hind neck, wings, both above and below, black. In flight legs extend well beyond tail. Eye, red. Bill, black. Legs, pinkish to pinkish-red. Non-breeding: Similar but crown and hind neck may become greyish.
Female: Like male but back has brown tones.
Immatures: Crown and hind neck greyish to almost black. Back, wings, dark brown. Feathers edged with buff giving a scaly appearance. Legs, pinkish-red.
Other Names (World)
Pied Stilt, White-headed Stilt, Black-winged Stilt (when considered a subspecies)
Pied Stilt (Himantopus leucocephalus) [XC638374]
by Eddy Smith from Len Howard Conservation Park (near Erskine), City of Mandurah, Western Australia, Australia (call)
Pied Stilt (Himantopus leucocephalus) [XC775348]
by Patrik \u00c5berg from Kuala Rompin, Pahang, Malaysia (call)
Subspecies
Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) and Pied Stilt (Himantopus leucocephalus) are retained as separate species by BirdLife International whereas Christidis and Boles (1994) and Turbott (1990) include Pied Stilt (Himantopus leucocephalus) as a subpecies of Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus). Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) and White-backed Stilt (Himantopus melanurus) have been lumped into Himantopus mexicanus following AOU (1998), SACC (2006) and a review by the BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group.
Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus).