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Sunday 12 July 2015

Black-winged stilt, Common stilt, or Pied stilt (Himantopus himantopus) (Linnaeus, 1758) - καλαμοκανάς - Cyprus

Family Recurvirostridae

The black-winged stiltcommon stilt, or pied stilt (Himantopus himantopus) is a widely distributed very long-legged wader in theavocet and stilt family (Recurvirostridae). Opinions differ as to whether the birds treated under the scientific name 
H. himantopus ought to be treated as a single species and if not, how many species to recognize. The scientific name Himantopus comes from the Greek meaning "strap foot" or "thong foot". Most sources today accept 2–4 species.
Adults are 33–36 cm (13–14 in) long. They have long pink legs, a long thin black bill and are blackish above and white below, with a white head and neck with a varying amount of black. Males have a black back, often with greenish gloss. Females' backs have a brown hue, contrasting with the black remiges. In the populations that have the top of the head normally white at least in winter, females tend to have less black on head and neck all year round, while males often have much black, particularly in summer. This difference is not clear-cut, however, and males usually get all-white heads in winter.
The breeding habitat of all these stilts is marshes, shallow lakes and ponds. Some populations are migratory and move to the ocean coasts in winter; those in warmer regions are generally resident or short-range vagrants. In Europe, the black-winged stilt is a regular spring overshoot vagrant north of its normal range, occasionally remaining to breed in northern European countries, for example in Britain in 1987.These birds pick up their food from sand or water. They mainly eat insects and crustaceans.The nest site is a bare spot on the ground near water.(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Photos Nicosia Agios Sozomenos 5/6/2015 by George Konstantinou

Photos Nicosia Agios Sozomenos 20/6/2017 by George Konstantinou






















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