Cladorhynchus leucocephalus
Silhouette: T. Michael Keesey, from a photograph by Ed Dunens · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The banded stilt (Cladorhynchus leucocephalus) is a wader of the stilt and avocet family, Recurvirostridae, native to Australia. It belongs to the monotypic genus Cladorhynchus. It gets its name from the red-brown breast band found on breeding adults, though this is mottled or entirely absent in non-breeding adults and juveniles. Its remaining plumage is pied and the eyes are dark brown. Nestling banded stilts have white down, unlike any other species of wader.
Breeding is triggered by the filling of inland salt lakes by rainfall, creating large shallow lakes rich in tiny shrimp on which the birds feed. A nomadic species, banded stilts migrate to these lakes in large numbers and assemble in large breeding colonies. The female lays three to four brown- or black-splotched whitish eggs on a scrape. If conditions are favourable, a second brood might be laid, though if the lakes dry up prematurely the breeding colonies may be abandoned.
The banded stilt is considered to be a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Under the South Australian National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972, however, this bird is considered to be Vulnerable. This is due to the predation of it by silver gulls, which are considered to be a serious threat. Black falcons and wedge-tailed eagles are also predators, taking the banded stilt and its young. Wikipedia →
Call0:26
Australia · 2016
© Andrew Spencer · XC311788 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rottnest Island | 🇦🇺 Australia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Banded Stilt sighting in Rottnest Island on a given day, based on 307 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 15th most-seen of the 81 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Banded Stilt in Rottnest Island on a given day, against about 20% in April, the lowest month. That is one of Rottnest Island's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain against 120 mm in June.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Banded Stilt sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Rottnest Island, in our data
Rottnest Island is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Banded Stilt sightings: about 60% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Recurvirostridae
The closest relatives of the Banded Stilt that you can see in Rottnest Island (family Recurvirostridae, Stilts and Avocets) are White-headed Stilt (about 70%) and Red-necked Avocet (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Banded Stilt is recorded against all the birds logged in Rottnest Island (307 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
