Thick-knees and stone-curlews | Burhinidae

Grielen | Alcaravanes | Thick-knees and stone-curlews

Large yellow eyes and a short, heavy bill with a swollen tip: these are birds of dusk and darkness that spend the day motionless on the ground, where their sandy, streaked plumage makes them hard to separate from the soil. The legs are long, with a conspicuously thickened joint halfway down that gives the group its name, and carry three short, thick toes with no hind toe. They live on dry, stony or sandy open country, often far from water, taking beetles, worms, lizards and mice on foot. The nest is a scrape with two eggs, and as evening falls a far-carrying, wailing call gives them away.