BLACK WINGED STILT [Female] (Himantopus himantopus) Los Molinos Reservoir, Las Parcelas, Fuerteventura, The Canary Islands, Spain

CLICK ON PHOTO TO SEE HIGHER QUALITY IMAGE
Click here for detailed species information

The Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) is one of three species of stilt, the others two are Black Stilt (Himantopus novaezelandiae) and Banded Stilt (Cladorhynchus leucocephalus). It is resident in Africa and also breeds across the temperate parts of Europe and Central Asia where it is a summer resident that migrates south for the winter to sub Saharan Africa, the Indian sub-continent and South East Asia. Within the warmer parts of this range, there is a sedentary population.  
In addition, there are also four subspecies or races recognised, which some authorities consider to be full species, 

• Hawaiian Stilt (Himantopus himantopus knudseni) is resident on the Hawaiian Islands. 

•  Black-necked Stilt (H. h.  mexicanus) occurs in the southern part of North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and the northern part of South America, including the Galapagos Islands

• White-backed Stilt (H. h.  melanurus) occurs in central and southern South America

• White-headed Stilt (H. h.  leucocephalus) occurs in Australasia, the Java Peninsula and the Philippines.

Formally absent from the Canary Islands, except as a vagrant, it is now a very rare resident on Fuerteventura and Lanzarote which first bred in 1994.