08/11/2026
Meet the black-necked stilt, a native North American shorebird we frequently see in the LA River during kayak tours. Sound on for 20 seconds of zen 🔊
Some fun facts:
🌿 Black-necked stilts prefer to live in shallow wetlands with limited vegetation, including right here in the Los Angeles River where they can be found year round.
🦐 Their diet consists of aquatic invertebrates, small crustaceans, small frogs & tadpoles, snails, tiny fish, and insects of many varieties, including larval mosquitoes.
🦩 They have the second-longest legs in proportion to their bodies of all birds, surpassed only by the flamingo.
🍿 To protect their nests, they’ll sometimes create a “popcorn display” - jumping, hopping, and flapping to scare away predators.
📆 The oldest recorded black-necked stilt lived to be 12 years and 5 months. It had been banded in Venezuela and found later on the Lesser Antilles islands in the Caribbean.
August & September are great months to see black-necked stilts on the LA River, so book your adventure before the season ends. Visit the link in our bio to get 20% off your order when you purchase 3 or more tickets!
Special guest appearance by a hungry great egret showing off its hunting prowess.
