Black-necked stilts (Himantopus mexicanus) are small (13 - 16 in.) wading birds with long, red, stiltlike legs. They probe in mud with slender bills for food.

Stilts build their nests on marshy ground in salt marshes, shallow coastal bays and freshwater marshes.

They lay 3 or 4 buff-colored eggs, spotted with brown, in a shallow depression lined with grass or shell fragments. There is one brood per year. Incubation period is 24 to 29 days. The voice is a sharp kip-kip-kip-kip.

They live in North America and northern South America. Their breeding range is along coasts from Oregon and Delaware southward, and locally in western interior states east to Idaho, Kansas, and Texas. Winters are spent along the Pacific Coast north to central California; also in Forida and other Gulf Coast states.

Lifespan of these birds can be up to 19 years.