Black-winged stilts, Lake Nakuru, Kenya

The Black-winged Stilt is a large black and white wader with long orange-red legs and a straight black bill. It has black on the back of the neck, a white collar and a red iris. Black-winged Stilts give a repeated high-pitched barking call. The Black-winged Stilt is a social species, and is usually found in small groups. It has a wide range, including Australia, Central and South America, Africa, southern and south-eastern Asia and parts of North America and Eurasia. Black-winged Stilts prefer freshwater and saltwater marshes, mudflats, and the shallow edges of lakes and rivers. Black-winged Stilts feed mainly on aquatic insects, but will also take molluscs and crustaceans. They rarely swim for food, preferring instead to wade in shallow water, and seize prey on or near the surface. Occasionally, birds plunge their heads below the surface to catch sub-aquatic prey. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for Life magazine and traveled to Africa from August 18, 1959 to December 20, 1959.