The Black-necked Stilt, Himantopus mexicanus, in family Recurvirostridae is a strikingly marked shore bird that is found as a migrant in west Texas as they move to summer breeding grounds in the Western United States. In this picture it is the black and white bird with red legs. The other three birds are White-face Ibises who are sharing the playa.
In the second picture, our subject is hunting insects in a puddle that remains in the drying playa. Take note of the white “eyebrows”. Their long red legs, long bill, black feathers above and white below make these birds easy to tell from all others.
No other bird has longer legs in proportion to their size except the flamingos. In this picture, you can see the long but sharply narrow bills they have for catching the insects, other arthropods, and fish upon which they feed.
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