White skin, beautiful face and long legs! The black-winged stilt has the supermodel temperament...

In March, when spring is warm and flowers are blooming, when you walk in the aquatic plant area of ​​Qin Garden or near Maple Leaf Lake, you can pay attention to the lakeshore, and you may see a group of beautiful visitors. They are about the same size as the common blackbirds, searching for food in the water with their slender beaks. They have eye-catching bright red "long legs" (actually tarsuses) and black wings, as if they are walking on stilts. Although the absolute length of their "legs" is not as long as those of large wading birds such as cranes and herons, compared with the body, they have the longest "legs" among known birds. They are the "guests" (migrant birds) of spring, the black-winged stilts.

In human aesthetics, long legs are considered beautiful, but the "long legs" of the black-winged stilt have nothing to do with aesthetics (sexual selection), but are the result of adaptation to the environment in long-term evolution. Just like a giraffe has a long neck to eat leaves high up, "long legs" can help the black-winged stilt find food in deeper water, while individuals with short legs are ruthlessly eliminated because they cannot find food.

Some black-winged stilts live in tropical and subtropical areas all year round, while others live a migratory life. In early spring every year, they fly north from Southeast Asia and southern my country to their breeding grounds in Northeast my country, Mongolia, and Russia. Although they are widely distributed around the world, they are only temporary visitors in the Qinling Mountains and are relatively rare.

Black-winged Stilt Profile:

Black-winged Stilt Little Egret

Scientific name: Himantopus Himantopus

Visibility: Rare

Discovery location: Live in groups near aquatic plant areas, Maple Leaf Lake and other water areas

Protection level: three

Figure 1: A group of black-winged stilts resting in an aquatic plant area

Figure 1: The "long legs" of the black-winged stilt (picture from the Internet)