I know, I am behind with the editing of my photos. That's because when I am out in the field I can't stop shooting, and when I get home I have multiple cards worth of shots to go through... good, but bad at the same time...
So, while the Black-winged Stilts have already laid their eggs, here are, in this third installment on this species, some shots taken a few weeks ago still during the mating season. We have seen the fights in my previous post and here is the mating ritual. Females have a brown back while males are black. The colors of the head are not distinctive of sexes and vary from bird to bird.
When the female is ready she lowers her head, keeping the body in a straight position and waits. Sometimes the male is not interested and doesn't respond, otherwise he goes around her a couple of times before finally getting onto her back. After the mating, male and female exchange a tender caress, beak to beak, one next to the other.
I can't wait to see the cute little stilts which will be born soon!
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