Black stilt

Black stilt
Conservation status
Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Recurvirostridae
Genus:	Himantopus
Species:	H. novaezelandiae
Binomial name
Himantopus novaezelandiae

The black stilt or kaki (Himantopus novaezelandiae) is a bird in the family Recurvirostridae. It lives in New Zealand.

Appearance

This bird has black feathers and long legs.

Habitat and food

The black stilt lives next to rivers and lakes, in swamps and by ponds. It goes to rivers, streams, or swamps to lay eggs. It goes further inland for the winter. But because these areas are usually close to each other, scientists do not think of it as a migratory bird.

This bird wades into the water to look for food.

Threats

As of 2021 there were about 170 of these birds alive in the wild. In 1981, there were only 23 birds. There are fewer of them because of invasive species, animals that humans brought to New Zealand. Cats and ferrets kill many stilts, chicks, and eggs. Human beings also change the places where the birds like to live. Human beings using the seashore for work or fun can scare the adult birds away from the nests. They can accidentally kill the chicks or eggs.

The Kakī Recovery Programme keeps some breeding pairs. They put the eggs in incubators until they hatch. They raise the chicks by hand until they are too big for cats or ferrets to eat easily. They also take eggs from wild nests. That way, predators cannot eat the parents as they sit on the nest.

In some parts of New Zealand, for example Tasman River, human beings try to stop the predators from eating the birds. It has worked.