in 200 years of europen settlement in australia, people have only recorded banded stilts laying eggs on 20 occasions. in south australia, where the stilts are listed as a vulnerable species, they have only bred seven times in the last 70 years. in 2010 there was a huge breeding event at lake torrens national park where more than 150,000 birds gathered as the lake filled for only the second time in 150 years. the eggs and chicks are often eaten by silver gulls. in 2000 when the stilts were breeding on lake eyre, nearly all the chicks were eaten.