For the journal of the Australasian Wader Studies Group

Australasian Wader Studies Group

The Australasian Wader Studies Group , established in 1981, is a special interest group of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union, also known as Birds Australia. It publishes a journal, The Stilt, usually twice a year, with occasional extra issues...

, see Stilt

Stilt (journal)

The Stilt is the journal of the Australasian Wader Studies Group , a special interest group of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union, also known as Birds Australia. It was first issued in 1981.-External links:...

Stilt is a common name for several species of bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

s in the family Recurvirostridae

Recurvirostridae

Recurvirostridae is a family of birds in the wader suborder Charadrii. It contains two distinct groups of birds, the avocets and the stilts .-Description and diet:...

, which also includes those known as avocet

Avocet

The four species of Avocets are a genus, Recurvirostra, of waders in the same avian family as the stilts.Avocets have long legs and long, thin, upcurved bills which they sweep from side to side when feeding in the brackish or saline wetlands they prefer...

s. They are found in brackish or saline wetlands in warm or hot climates.

They have extremely long legs, hence the group name, and long thin bills. Stilts typically feed on aquatic insects and other small creatures and nest on the ground surface in loose colonies.

Handbook of Birds of the World recognises three species in two genera:

• Black-winged Stilt
  Black-winged Stilt
  The Black-winged Stilt or Common Stilt is a widely distributed very long-legged wader in the avocet and stilt family . Opinions differ as to whether the birds treated under the scientific name H. himantopus ought to be treated as a single species and if not, how many species to recognize...
  
   or White-backed Stilt, Himantopus himantopus
  • Pied Stilt or White-headed Stilt, Himantopus (himantopus) leucocephalus
  • Hawaiian Stilt or aeʻo, Himantopus (himantopus/mexicanus) knudseni
  • White-backed Stilt, Himantopus (himantopus/mexicanus) melanurus
  • Black-necked Stilt
    Black-necked Stilt
    The Black-necked Stilt is a locally abundant shorebird of American wetlands and coastlines. It is found from the coastal areas of California through much of the interior western United States and along the Gulf of Mexico as far east as Florida, then south through Central America and the Caribbean...
    
    , Himantopus (himantopus/mexicanus) mexicanus
• Black Stilt
  Black Stilt
  The Black Stilt or Kakī , Himantopus novaezelandiae, is a large wader in the avocet and stilt family Recurvirostridae. The species is endemic to New Zealand. Adults are 40 cm long. They have very long red legs, a long thin black bill and black plumage...
  
  , Himantopus novaezelandiae
• Banded Stilt
  Banded Stilt
  The Banded Stilt is a nomadic stilt from Australia. It belongs to the monotypical genus Cladorhynchus. It gets its name from the red-brown breast band found on breeding adults, but this is mottled or entirely absent in non-breeding adults and juveniles. Its remaining plumage is pied and the eyes...
  
  , Cladorhynchus leucocephalus

A fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

 stilt has been described as Himantopus olsoni, based on remains recovered in the Late Miocene

Late Miocene

The Late Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch....

 Big Sandy Formation of Wickieup, USA.