Bird Guide

Beach Stone-curlew vs Great Stone-curlew

Beach Stone-curlew (Esacus magnirostris)

Beach Stone-curlew

Esacus magnirostris

Large1.0 kgCoastal

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. Voice: As an alarm, the bird will make a chwip-chwip to ward creatures away from their territory.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Greg Schechter from San Francisco, USA · CC BY 2.0
Great Stone-curlew (Esacus recurvirostris)

Great Stone-curlew

Esacus recurvirostris

Large790 gRiverine

The great thick-knee is a large wader at 49–55 cm, and has a massive 7 cm bill with the lower mandible with a sharp angle giving it an upturned appearance. It has unstreaked grey-brown upperparts and breast, with rest of the underparts whitish. The face has a striking black and white pattern, and the bill is black with a yellow base. The eyes are bright yellow and the legs a duller greenish-yellow. In flight, the great thick-knee shows black and white flight feathers on the upperwing, and a mainly white underwing. Sexes are similar, but young birds are slightly paler than adults.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Beach Stone-curlew and Great Stone-curlew.