The Black-winged Stilt, Himantopus himantopus, is a large wader in the avocet and stilt family, Recurvirostridae.

Adults are 33-36 cm long. They have long pink legs, a long thin black bill and are mainly white with a dark cap and a dark back.

The taxonomy of this bird is still somewhat contentious: some sources believe that there are as many as five distinct species; others consider some or all of these to be subspecies. The five forms are:

The rare and endangered Hawaiian knudseni has more extensive black on its neck than the American forms.

Some populations are migratory and move to the ocean coasts in winter.

These birds pick up their food from sand or water. They mainly eat insects and crustaceans.