Black-necked Stilts

Black-necked stilt. Photo by USDA.

With the very low water levels at Lake Wichita, the noisy black-necked stilts have been very common over the past year. The barrow pit at Lake Wichita Park is pretty much just a mud flat--with not much mud.

Last time I walked back to the barrow pit a couple of weeks ago, I saw what appeared to be a nesting black-necked stilt on a pile of mud in the middle of the pond. I thought to myself, "No, that can't be right--those birds only migrate through here. They don't nest." Well, I guess they do now. I went out there this AM and two little long-legged, fuzzy babies were huddled up next to the nest and then took off across the mud. Although they lack the distinctive black and white plumage of the adults and don't have the pink legs, the only birds out there were black-necked stilts, and these guys were right there with them, with distinctive baby fuzz. With my phone camera, I couldn't get any decent pictures.

Good birding!