Black-winged Stilt

The black-winged stilt is an elegant black-and-white wader with a thin, straight bill and improbably long, bright red legs. According to Guinness World Records, these are the longest of any bird in proportion to its body, up to more than 60% of its body length. It uses them to wade far out into shallow, brackish water in search of insects and small aquatic animals. It nests in loose colonies. A summer visitor, it arrives in the Vendée in spring and heads south again in autumn.