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Fishing With Chopsticks

A female ae’o deftly plucks a minnow from a shallow brackish pond with its elongated, slender bill. Morning backlighting makes the long, thin, pink legs appear to almost fluoresce. The ae’o, or Hawaiian stilt, is a non-migratory, endemic subspecie (Himantopus mexicanus knudseni). It feeds on fish and arthropods in shallow shoreline ponds and wetlands. Though often seen in the main Hawaiian archipelago, ae’o are listed as endangered since their range and abundance have diminished with habitat loss and predation by introduced rats, mongoose, egrets, and feral cats.

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Uploaded on April 24, 2021
Taken on April 15, 2021