Great Stone-curlew

The great stone-curlew, or great thick-knee, is a large wader, 49–55cm long, with a massive bill about 7cm long whose sharply angled lower mandible gives it an upturned look; the bill is black with a yellow base. The upperparts and breast are plain grey-brown and the rest of the underparts whitish, and the face has a striking black-and-white pattern around bright yellow eyes. The legs are a duller greenish-yellow. In flight it shows black-and-white flight feathers above and a mainly white underwing. Young birds are slightly paler (Wikipedia, general species account).

It prefers gravel banks along rivers and large lakes, and beaches. Like other stone-curlews it is mainly active at night and at dusk, but it often forages by day, moving slowly and deliberately with occasional short runs, and eats crabs, large insects and other animal prey. It is wary and flies off ahead of an observer on powerful, stiff wingbeats. Its call is a wailing whistle, mostly at night. A single egg is laid in a bare scrape on open shingle. In India it is resident; SoIB 2023 estimates a long-term decline of about 66% and rates it a High conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).