Black-necked Stilts breeding documented at Horicon Marsh, Wisconsin

[Beringia]

https://dnr.wi.gov/news/Weekly/article/?id=4679

Video

https://p.widencdn.net/uycn8v/Serendipitous-Stilts?wmode=transparent&rel=0

HORICON, Wis. - Once labeled an "accidental" visitor to Wisconsin, a southern breeding bird known for its long, thin, pinkish legs, needle-like black bill and aggressive calls in defense of its chicks, has now moved to Wisconsin in a much bigger way.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources conservation biologists surveying Horicon National Wildlife Refuge in 2019 for rare birds serendipitously observed the southern bird, a black-neck stilt, driving away a killdeer. Following the bird, the biologists found another adult stilt and four chicks on a muddy island of decaying cattail stalks.

They looked for similar habitat and subsequently documented 31 nests, the most ever recorded in the state by far.

"We had no intention of documenting breeding black-necked stilts, so it was a nice surprise," said Sumner Matteson, the DNR Natural Heritage Conservation biologist who, along with contractor Daryl Christensen, found the colonies. "Refuge staff members were delighted by the large number of nesting stilts on their flowages."

Black-necked stilts (Himantopus mexicanus) inhabit shallow wetlands and spend much of the day wading in shallow waters to catch and eat aquatic insects, small crustaceans, amphibians, snails, tiny fish and various flying insects, according to the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology guide, All About Birds.

Black-necked stilts are known primarily as breeding birds in the Gulf Coast states. The legendary ornithologist Sam Robbins described black-necked stilts in his 1991 book, Wisconsin Birdlife, as "accidental" in the state, with the birds recorded in Racine County in 1847, and three others from Horicon Marsh in 1951, Horicon National Wildlife Refuge in 1986 and Columbia County in 1987. None of these birds were breeding here.

In more recent years, black-necked stilts have been expanding their breeding range northward from traditional breeding areas along the Gulf Coast and southwestern U.S. coastal areas, Matteson said.

Nesting stilts began to appear in Wisconsin in 1999, with individual nesting pairs documented by Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas volunteers at the Horicon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge, and then in Jefferson County and Dodge County in 2004.

The state's second Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas, initiated in 2015, brought confirmation again of nesting at the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge that year, with as many as 12 birds found that summer.

That number swelled to a remarkable 63 adult birds in 2019.

"We will be interested in coming years to see if the bird continues to breed at Horicon and other sites with similar wetland habitats, and if these occurrences continue to increase as a result of wetland restoration efforts and perhaps the effects of climate change," Matteson said.

[mopinko]

1. oh man. that place is a bit of heaven on earth.

i dont do a lot of birding these days, but when my kids were little it was my go-to time off activity.
i used to take a week camping every year. i usually did it in early september, and horicon was my fave. i was usually all but alone on the marsh.

the story of everything that has happened there is fascinating. but some folks might hate on them for the fact that the canada goose was rescued from extinction there.
never got there at a migration peak, but i hear tell it is somethin to see.

[Beringia]

4. You mean people hate on the Horicon conservation because they saved Canadian Geese?

I visited there a few times, but was not a birder, just looked at the ponds and the gift shop.

[StClone]

2. Unique species is a bright spot among many losses

Gone are Red-tailed Hawks nesting across the street and in my neighborhood as many as 3 pairs of Eastern Kingbirds. Just about all local species have decreased from lack of insects, land use or other hazards. Startlingly House Sparrows no longer maintain large broods as they used to feed their young off now nearly absent car bumpers insect kills. They are decreasing! Eastern Bluebirds have been hammered by insect loss too as well as crazy weather with ice in wintering areas and late heavy snow and cold upon April return to breeding sites. On and On.

Birders need to get political and loud. Like they need to protest like hell the latest fiat allowing bird kills to go unpunished. Some birders are closet Conservatives and as such are mind-blowing hypocrites or worse.

[Beringia]

3. That's sad to hear

Yes birders need to get political, I agree. There are such large numbers of them, but like you said, they are probably some of them are conservatives who don't speak out. I follow a birder on facebook, Timothy Barksdale, and he will sometimes post something about conservation, but not often. He made a movie on the prairie chicken and its demise shown on PBS, but I missed it when it was on. Called Battle on the Booming Ground.