This is a bird note.

Visit a shallow wetland in summer and you may be dive bombed by a slender black and white shore bird with outrageous red legs.

The appropriately named black-necked stilt has the longest legs relative to its size of any

North American bird. It uses those legs for waiting as it picks tiny

insects and crustaceans from the water surface with its long slender bill.

If the stilt continues to pester you, you must be near its nest. These birds signal the

approach of any potential predator. They leap into the air and call with an intensity and volume all out of proportion

to their delicate appearance. The persistent calling signals that the predator has been seen

and often sends it on its way. Thus the stilts noise and activity benefit all

the birds in the vicinity. Because of this black-necked stilts are called Sentinel birds.

When avocets, which breed in the same habitats, add their voices to the clamor,

you can understand why no sensible predator would stick around.

Birds of shallow wetlands, stilts are very sensitive to drought,

which has increased with global climate change. But they readily

move to new breeding areas responding quickly when new wetlands are created.

To see a photograph of those outrageous red legs and learn what's being done to conserve wetlands,

come to our website, birdnote.org.