The Senegal thick-knee (''Burhinus senegalensis'') is a
stone-curlew, a group of
wader
245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots
Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...
s in the family
Burhinidae
The stone-curlews, also known as dikkops or thick-knees, consist of 10 species within the family Burhinidae, and are found throughout the tropical and temperate parts of the world, with two or more species occurring in some areas of Africa, Asia, ...
. Their vernacular scientific name refers to the prominent joints in the long yellow or greenish legs.
Range
It is a resident breeder in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
between the
Sahara and the equator, and in the
Nile
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ...
valley.
Description
left,
Senegal thick-knees are medium-large waders with strong black and yellow black bills, large yellow eyes — which give them a reptilian appearance — and cryptic plumage. They are similar but slightly smaller than the
Eurasian stone-curlew
The Eurasian stone-curlew, Eurasian thick-knee, or simply stone-curlew (''Burhinus oedicnemus'') is a northern species of the Burhinidae (stone-curlew) bird family.
Taxonomy
The Eurasian stone-curlew was formally described by the Swedish natu ...
, which
winters in Africa. The long dark bill, single black bar on the folded wing, and darker cheek stripe are distinctions from the
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
an species. Senegal thick-knee is striking in flight, with a broad white wing bar.
Habits and food
left, 200px,
This species has a preference for dry open habitats with some bare ground, preferably near water. It lays two blotchy light brown eggs on a ground scrape. It is most active at dawn and dusk. The song is a loud ''pi-pi-pi-pi-pi-pi-pi''.
Food is
insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...
s, crustaceans and other invertebrates. It will also take other small prey.
References
Further reading
The field characters of this species and its separation from Eurasian stone-curlew are described in:
*
Shirihai, Hadoram
Hadoram Shirihai (born in Israel 1962) is an Israeli ornithologist and writer.
Biography
Shirihai is the son of Batia and Eli Shirihai. His mother was a schoolteacher, his father was a zoologist in Israel. He grew up in Jerusalem where he became ...
(1994) Field characters of Senegal Thick-knee ''
British Birds'' 87(4):183-186
External links
Senegal thick-knee videos, photos & soundson the Internet Bird Collection
* https://www.flickr.com/photos/likifumei/542653503
{{Taxonbar, from=Q922125
Senegal thick-knee
Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa
Senegal thick-knee
Taxa named by William John Swainson
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