The black winged stilt at Bhopal’s upper lake

Seen in the picture is Black Winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) at the edge of upper lake nearing Van Vihar. As seen in picture it is black and white in colour 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. It is normally found in temperate and tropical shallow wetlands. It usually breeds in freshwater, including lake edge, marshes, swamps, river-beds and flooded fields, also found in coastal salt marshes. They can be easily seen on Bhopal’s wetlands like edges of Bhopal's lakes, van vihar etc.

Black-winged Stilts feed mainly on aquatic insects. They rarely swim for food (unlike the Banded Stilt), 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.