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ShrublandScrapeLarge · 423 g
ID tip
The spotted thick-knee, which can reach up to 45.5 cm (17.9 in) in height, has long legs and brown-and-white speckled plumage which provides camouflage, making it difficult to spot the bird in the grasslands and savannas where it roams. Its head is large and round with a prominent yellow eye and a short, stout beak. When in flight or standing in a characteristic position with its wings raised, it shows a striking contrasting pattern. Its legs are long and yellow and the tibiotarsal joint is expanded, giving it the name "thick-knee".
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
When to see the Spotted Thick-knee
One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is November, the month with the most records.
Where to see the Spotted Thick-knee
The map shades 29 countries with regular records, and 6 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.
Recorded as a rare visitor in Mali, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates.
About the Spotted Thick-knee
The spotted thick-knee, also known as the spotted dikkop or Cape thick-knee, is a wader in the family Burhinidae. It is native to tropical regions of central and southern Africa.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Easily confused with
Water Thick-kneeBurhinus vermiculatusThe water thick-knee is 38 to 41 cm (15–16 in) and weighs 293–320 g (10.3–11.3 oz).
Eurasian Stone-curlewBurhinus oedicnemusThe Eurasian stone-curlew is a fairly large wader, though mid-sized by the standards of its family.
Bush Stone-curlewBurhinus grallariusA species of Burhinus, a genus of large-eyed and long-legged terrestrial foragers known as thick-knees, it is slender in form and a grey and brown colour with distinctive markings.
Side by side: Eurasian Stone-curlew vs Spotted Thick-knee · Spotted Thick-knee vs Water Thick-knee · Bush Stone-curlew vs Spotted Thick-knee
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