First breeding records of black-winged stilt Himantopus himantopus (Linnaeus, 1758) in the island of Maio

Black-winged stilt Himantopus himantopus (Linnaeus, 1758) has a wide geographical distribution, including France and southern Iberia to sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar, and east to central Asia and northern central China, India, Sri Lanka, Indochina and Taiwan (Pierce 1996). On the African mainland, breeding sites nearest to the Cape Verde Islands are in Mauritania and Senegal (Isenmann et al. 2010, Borrow & Demey 2014). Black-winged stilt breeds in a wide range of habitats, which may include freshwater areas or saline environments, such as coastal lagoons with broad areas of mudflats, salt meadows (Johnsgard 1981), saltpans, coastal marshes and swamps (Cramp 1983, Pierce 1996). Usually, black-winged stilts breed in colonies typically of 2-50 pairs, and incubation is done by both sexes, lasting between 22 and 26 days (Pierce 1996). Nests are usually widely spaced on the ground, near water (Cuervo 2003), and are very diverse, ranging from a shallow scrape with little lining to quite substantial nests of available vegetation (Cramp 1983).