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Inspiring and Supporting Photographers of Australian Birds

Pied Stilt

Pied Stilt (Image ID 39012)
Photographed byJim Schultz on Fri 14th Feb, 2020 and uploaded on Sat 15th Feb, 2020 .
Resolution1367x870
Viewed301
ID39012
CommentPrelude: Black-winged Stilt, Himantopus himantopus. A pet child has many names, and so does the familiar, Australian black and white stilt examined here; by 2020 the naming debate rages as follows: Pied Stilt aka White-headed Stilt (Himantopus leucocephalus), aka the Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) and possibly more yet. To add to the confusion, ‘Atlas of Living Australia’ appeared to have it down as ‘Australasian Pied Stilt’, Himantopus himantopus leucocephalus (Gould, 1837), but seems now to have reverted to using the original nomenclature used by Swedish Carl Linnaeus (1758). Call it what you like, here I will go with the conservative (and BirdLife’s) Pied, or Black-winged Stilt (H. himantopus). At least until someone relieves me of my confusion! Generic Narrative: The Pied, or Black-winged Stilt, Himantopus himantopus is a rather large wader, found in most of Australia; it avoids only the harshest parts of the nation. A versatile feeder, it has very long, red legs that allow it to forage in water deeper than many other wading birds can do. It does swim but prefers to get its feed by wading through water up to belly-deep, pecking at small invertebrates on the water surface. Breeding in colonies during spring, it forms a small depression in shingles, sand or dry mud or often in grassy paddocks, especially in those that were flooded in the preceding winter. You will know, if you have ventured too close to a nest, as the parents will fly at you, feigning injury, complaining loudly! These birds are very vocal indeed, so one is never in doubt of their presence. The sexes are similar, the female having a seemingly smaller head. Youngsters are paler with a speckled, black crown continuing down the neck as the bird matures. Bibra Lake; GPS. Status: Least Concern
EquipmentOlympus OM-D E-M1X camera body with Olympus 300mm f4 IS Pro ED M.Zuiko lens + MC-14 Teleconverter; Velbon Neo Carmagne Carbon Tripod with Manfrotto Ball Head Art 498RC2. Camera settings: Exposure Program/Shooting Mode: ‘Manual’; shutter speed 1/2000 sec, f9 & ISO-400. Metering Mode: ‘CenterWeightedAverage’; Focus Mode: ‘C-AF’ & maximum burst rate habitually set to 12 to prevent filling up the buffer for which reason I also only shoot in RAW. Image Stabilizer on (S-SIS AUTO). Olympus Workspace for metadata; FastStone for viewing & sorting; Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw/CC 2020 for post-processing; Topaz Pro plug-in DeNoise AI for (sharpening and) noise control. ‘Australian Bird Guide 2019’ for supplementary data and colour checks
LocationBibra lake; GPS, Western Australia
Keywordsadult
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