The banded stilt is a nomadic wader of the stilt and avocet family, Recurvirostridae. It gets its name from the red-brown breast band found on breeding adults. Breeding is triggered by the filling of inland salt lakes by rainfall. It is considered to be a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
About Banded stilt in brief
The banded stilt is a nomadic wader of the stilt and avocet family, Recurvirostridae, native to Australia. It gets its name from the red-brown breast band found on breeding adults, though this is mottled or entirely absent in non-breeding adults and juveniles. Breeding is triggered by the filling of inland salt lakes by rainfall, creating large shallow lakes rich in tiny shrimp on which the birds feed. The female lays three to four brown- or black-splotched whitish eggs on a scrape. If conditions are favourable, a second brood might be laid, though if the lakes dry up prematurely the breeding colonies may be abandoned. It is considered to be a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Under the South Australian National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972, however, this bird is considered a Vulnerable. This is due to the predation of it by silver gulls, which are considered a serious threat. Black falcons and wedge-tailed eagles are also predators, taking the banded Stilt and its young. It was first recorded at Rottnest Island in Western Australia, and later in South Australia, until large numbers were seen by the British explorer Charles Sturt at Lepson’s Lake north of Cooper Creek in what is now western Queensland.
The species name is derived from the Ancient Greek words leukos \”white\”, and kephale \”head\”. It is the sister taxon to the avocets of Himantopus an earlier offshoot of the Stilt family, with the stilts being the ancestors of the Banded Stilts. The bandedStilt was first described in 1816 by French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot, classifying it in theAvocet genus RecurVirostra leucocephala. In 1835, Belgian ornithologists Bernard du Bus de Gisignies described it as a new genus and species, Leptorhynchus pectoralis, to the Royal Academy of Belgium in 1835. English zoologist George Robert Gray placed it in its own genus Cladorhyn chus in 1840. German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach put it in anew genus, naming it XiphidiorhynChus pectoralis in 1845. Australian ornithological expert Fred Fred Lawson gave it the name Cladorchus australis in his 1913 List of the Birds of Australia synonym, using his sub-species rottnesti from 1913. A 2004 study combining genetics and morphology reinforced its position as sister to the Avocet lineage.
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This page is based on the article Banded stilt published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 07, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
