Discover Top Posts Tagged with #thick-knees

shoutout to the thick-knees. a group of birds that looks so consistently worried/sad/haunted they make great reaction images

(First five photos are of Water Thick-Knees. Photos 6-9 are of Bush Thick-Knees, and the final photo is of a Beach Thick-Knee. Photo credits in order: Dorian Anderson x 2, Marco Valentini, Marcin Dyduch, Joe Hammond, David Southali, Luke Seitz, Stephanie Owen, Louis Backstrom, Peter Stevens, all via the Macaulay Library)

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Spotted Thick-Knee (Burhinus capensis)

Family: Stone-Curlew Family (Burhinidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Found mainly in dry grasslands and open woodlands across much of sub-Saharan Africa (although it is not uncommon for them to wander into more urban areas) the Spotted Thick-Knee is a relative of gulls, plovers, puffins and other seabirds that has adapted to terrestrial inland life, with the long legs of its wading ancestors allowing it to run at considerable speeds in pursuit of insects, small lizards and other land-dwelling prey while its speckled brown back and wings allows it to camouflage against dry vegetation to avoid detection by predators (mainly large birds-of-prey.) Most active at night, Spotted Thick-Knees spend much of the day resting with their bodies flattened against suitable vegetation to make them inconspicuous, and emerge at dusk to hunt and search for mates. The eggs of Spotted Thick-Knees, which are usually laid in pairs in twig-lined nests built under bushes or among tall vegetation, have similar markings on their shells to the feathers of adult birds to help them blend in, and both parents work together to feed and protect their chicks; if the nest is approached by a larger animal a parent will cover the eggs or chicks with their wings and fiercely peck at the potential intruder should they come closer, and in extreme situations adults have been observed pretending to be injured a short distance away from the nest in order to draw predators to them and away from their chicks.

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Image Source: Here