The
black-winged stilt,
common stilt, or
pied stilt (
Himantopus himantopus) is a widely distributed very long-legged
wader in the
avocet and
stilt family (
Recurvirostridae). Opinions differ as to whether the birds treated under the
scientific name H. himantopus ought to be treated as a single
species and if not, how many species to recognize. The scientific name
Himantopus comes from the Greek meaning "strap foot" or "thong foot". Most sources today accept 2–4 species.