Birds Posters
Stone curlews
The Stone curlews, also known as Dikkops or Thick knees are a group of largely tropical birds in the family Burhinidae.
Despite the group being classified as waders, most species have a preference for arid or semi arid habitats.
They are found worldwide within the tropical zone, with some species also breeding in temperate Europe and Australia.
They are medium to large birds with strong black or yellow black bills, large yellow eyes—which give them a reptilian appearance—and cryptic plumage.
The names Thick knee and Stone curlew are both in common use, the preference among authorities for one term or the other varying from year to year.
The term Stone curlew owes its origin to the broad similarities with true curlews (which are not closely related).
Thick knee refers to the prominent joints in the long yellow or greenish legs and apparently originated with a name coined in 1776 for B. oedicnemus, the Thick kneed Bustard.
They are largely nocturnal, particularly when singing their loud wailing songs, which are reminiscent of true curlews.
The diet consists mainly of insects and other invertebrates. Larger species will also take lizards and even small mammals.
Most species are sedentary, but the Stone Curlew is a summer migrant in the temperate European part of its range, wintering in Africa.
It is a medium sized wader with a strong yellow and black beak, large yellow eyes (which give it a "reptilian", or "goggle eyed" appearance), and cryptic plumage.
The bird is striking in flight, with black and white wing markings.
Despite being classed as a wader, this species prefers dry open habitats with some bare ground.
It is largely nocturnal, particularly when singing its loud wailing songs, which are reminiscent of that of curlews.
Food consists of insects and other small invertebrates. It will also take small reptiles and rodents. It lays 2 3 eggs in a narrow scrape in the ground.
The stone curlew occurs throughout Europe, north Africa and southwestern Asia.
It is a summer migrant in the more temperate European and Asian parts of its range, wintering in Africa.
The Bush Stone curlew (Burhinus grallarius, obsolete name Burhinus magnirostris) is a large, ground dwelling bird endemic to Australia.
Although it looks rather like a wader and is related to the oystercatchers, avocets and plovers,
the birs is a terrestrial predator filling a similar ecological niche to the roadrunners of North America.
Like most stone curlews, it is mainly nocturnal and specialises in hunting small grassland animals: frogs, spiders, insects, molluscs, crustaceans,
snakes, lizards and small mammals are all taken, mostly gleaned or probed from soft soil or rotting wood;
also a few seeds or tubers, particularly in drought years. Birds usually forage individually or in pairs over a large home range, particularly on moonlit nights.