Beach Thick-knee
Esacus magnirostris
Large shorebird with an enormous chunky beak, black-and-white-marked face, white stripes on the shoulder, and long and sturdy legs. Unlikely to be encountered anywhere except coastal areas, particularly beaches, reefs, and estuaries; very unusual even a few hundred meters inland from these habitats. Heavy human activity on beaches in certain areas has confined them to small offshore islands. Often calls at night, giving high-pitched piping and whistling notes.
Identification
The beach stone-curlew is 54-56 cm (21-22 in) long. At a mean of 1,032 g (2.275 lb) in males and 1,000 g (2.2 lb) in females, it is the heaviest living member of the Charadriiformes outside of the gull and skua families. They have black and white face patterning, yellow eyes and a grey-brown upper body.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Esacus magnirostris
- Authority
- (Vieillot, 1818)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Burhinidae
- Genus
- Esacus
Range and habitat
The beach stone-curlew is a resident of undisturbed open beaches, exposed reefs, mangroves, and tidal sand or mudflats over a large range, including coastal eastern Australia as far south as far eastern Victoria, the northern Australian coast and nearby islands, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. It is uncommon over most of its range, and rare south of Cairns.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Beach stone-curlew forage on low tide muddy sand for invertebrates, mostly crabs.<p>The bird breeding season is September to November. The bird nests in sand, laying one egg per season just above the high tide line on the open beach, where it is vulnerable to predation and human disturbance. The egg is vulnerable to Both parents care of the young until they reach 7-12 months of age.<p>As an alarm, the bird will make a chwip-chwip to ward creatures away from their territory.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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