IDENTITY:

Large, sandy-brown and streaked, with short yellow-and-black bill, striking yellow eye, and long yellow legs. Larger,paler and more finely streaked than very similar Indian, with comparatively smaller bill, longer tail and shorter tarsi. Bill is more extensively yellow, and dark and pale bars across wing-coverts are less prominent. Juvenile similar but more rufous above, with head pattern and wing-covert barring less pronounced.

HABIT AND HABITAT:

Very wary; if suspicious, runs off with head low, and squats on ground to camouflage itself. Rests in shade. Open stony or scrubby desert and semi-desert, and riverine scrub.

FOOD:

Mainly terrestrial invertebrates and small vertebrates: insects and their larvae, especially beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, ants.

VOICE:

Mainly vacal an night. Slurred whistles which build up in pitch and volume to a series of clear, loud cur-lee calls and then die away; also variants of cur-lee.

INFO:

The <b>Eurasian stone curlew, Eurasian thick-knee,</b> or <b>simply stone-curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus)</b> is a northern species of the Burhinidae (stone-curlew) bird family.<br>It is a fairly large wader though is mid-sized by the standards of its family. Length ranges from 38 to 46 cm (15 to 18 in), wingspan from 76 to 88 cm (30 to 35 in) and weight from 290 to 535 g (10.2 to 18.9 oz). 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.<br>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, and occasionally small reptiles, frogs and rodents. It lays 2–3 eggs in a narrow scrape in the ground.<br>The Eurasian 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. Although the species is of Least Concern, some populations are showing declines due to agricultural intensification. For example, a French population has declined with 26% over 14 years.