Michele Mendi

The species occupies various types of shallow and mainly freshwater wetlands – marshes and swamps, lake edges, riverbeds, sewage ponds and flooded fields, but also saltpans, coastal saltmarshes and alkaline lakes. It has wide distribution from Iberian Peninsula through most of S Europe, Middle East, C Asia to NE China, S & SE Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar (Pierce, Kirwan, 2020). European strongholds are in the Iberian Peninsula and Russia (Keller et al. 2020).

European-African migrant. Populations in the Middle East and Africa are largely resident.

Its population trend in Europe is stable. Evaluated as “Least Concern” (BirdLife International 2021).

Season of assessment

B

Population trendIncreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		101000-269000,158000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Black-winged Stilt

European populations are migratory, the wintering grounds are in Africa; low numbers overwinter locally in the extreme S of Europe.

Birds breeding in W & SW Europe take SW routes in autumn with encounters within the regions, NW and W Africa. Some birds marked in France, Spain and Portugal are subsequently encountered in spring through C and even E Mediterranean (Levant, Balkan Peninsula), suggesting possible loop migration in at least part of the population.

C European populations (Hungary) migrate SW, with encounters in C & W Mediterranean region. Birds breeding in SC Europe (Italy) show diverse migratory directions, with encounters spread across the Mediterranean region from the W part (Spain), through C (Italy, Tunisia) to E (Asia Minor); wintering has been recorded as S as Mali (Spina, Volponi, 2008).

Recoveries by Condition for Black-winged Stilt

Most encounters are obtained after the early 1990s. They are obtained mainly during the breeding season, peaking in Jun-Jul (56% in total). Majority of encounters are recorded in SC, SW & W Europe (48, 39 and 9% respectively). There are almost no recoveries before 1960. The encounters based on dead birds decreased from 35% in 1961-1990 to 4% after 1991; those based on alive birds markedly increased over time – from 61% in 1961-1990 to 95% after 1991. The latter is mostly due to ringing recoveries, and especially to colour ring resightings. Shooting was an important factor in the past (35% of all recoveries between 1961 and 1990); it is currently responsible for less than 1% of all cases.

Ringing recovery data from SE & E Europe are almost lacking.

Annual Movements for Black-winged Stilt

Post-breeding dispersal and autumn migration in W European birds start in Aug, with encounters in France and Spain until Oct; records from the wintering sites further S exist from Morocco (Jan) and W Africa (Senegal, Dec & Feb). Birds from the SW breeding population are encountered in NW Africa (Morocco) as early as Sep, N Africa (Tunisia) – in Oct, and W Africa (Senegal, Mali) as early as Sep but most encounters from Nov-Feb. Some birds ringed in France and Iberian Peninsula are encountered in spring (Mar-Apr) migrating through C & E Mediterranean. C European breeders are encountered in Aug in Italy.

Spring migration of the SC European population (Italy) is also Mar-Apr, with encounters mainly from C & W Mediterranean; a possibly wintering bird from Tunisia (Jan) has also been recorded.

Connectivity by Month by Region for Black-winged Stilt

Dispersal and autumn migratory movements begin as early as late summer. Birds breeding in W & SW Europe are encountered on the continent mostly until mid-autumn, the African wintering grounds are reached from early autumn (even W Africa) but most encounters are from late autumn to late winter. Winter site-fidelity has been found in a bird marked as juvenile in France and encountered twice, in different years in Mauritania (Yésou et al. 1995). Current departure in autumn of the Hungarian breeders is much later compared to the 1980s (Pigniczki et al. 2019). Apart from C & W Mediterranean, birds breeding in Italy are encountered in S Turkey in late autumn and winter. Return migration starts in early spring and by mid-spring most breeding sites are already reached.

The species shows high dispersal potential, especially during dry springs (Figuerola 2007).

Boris Nikolov

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
2020 . European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. European Bird Census Council & Lynx Edicions, BarcelonaEditor(s): Keller, V., S. Herrando, P. Voříšek, et al.
BirdLife International 2021 . Species factsheet: Himantopus himantopus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 06/09/2021.
Figuerola, J. 2007 . Climate and Dispersal: Black-Winged Stilts Disperse Further in Dry Springs. PLoS ONE 2
Pierce, R.J. and G. M. Kirwan 2020 . Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.bkwsti.01) Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA
Pigniczki, Cs., Nagy, T., Oláh, J. Nagy, G. G., Karcza, Zs. & Schmidt, A. 2019 . Breeding, dis¬persal, migration and conservation of the Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) in Hungary. Ornis Hungarica 27: 1–19
Spina, F., Volponi, S. 2008 . Atlante della Migrazione degli Uccelli in Italia. 2. Passeriformi. Ministero dell’Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio e del Mare, Instituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), Tipografia SCR-Roma
Yésou, P., Triplet, P., Dubois, P. J. 1995 . Winter site fidelity in the black winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus. Wader Study Group Bull. 76: 39–39

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