Cape Thick-knee

The Cape thick-knee, also called the spotted thick-knee or spotted dikkop, is a wader of the family Burhinidae found in the grasslands and savannas of sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal, Mali and Mauritania in the west to Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, and in south Yemen. Brown-and-white speckled plumage camouflages it, and it has a large round head with a prominent yellow eye, long yellow legs and a short, stout bill. It is nocturnal and squats on the ground by day, hunting on the ground for insects, small mammals and lizards. The nest is a scrape lined with grasses, feathers, pebbles and twigs, usually holding two eggs.

About the Cape thick-knee

The Cape thick-knee, also called the spotted thick-knee or spotted dikkop, is a long-legged, ground-dwelling wader in the thick-knee family, Burhinidae, which also includes the stone-curlews. It lives in grasslands and savannas across sub-Saharan Africa and southwestern Arabia, resting by day and feeding at night.

Its scientific name is Burhinus capensis. Thick-knees belong to the order Charadriiformes. Members of the family are medium to large terrestrial waders, generally found in semi-arid to arid open country, and only a few species are associated with water.

The bird stands up to 45.5 cm (17.9 in) tall. Its plumage is buff with bold dark brown to black spots and blotches above, which make a crouching bird difficult to spot in grassland and savanna. The head, crown and neck are buff with darker streaks. A short, broad white eyebrow and a white stripe under the eye break up the face, the throat is white, and the pale buff breast is finely streaked.

The eyes are the striking feature. They are large, round and rich yellow, set in a big rounded head above a short, stout black bill with a yellow base. The long legs are dull yellow, and the joint midway down the leg is swollen, which gives the thick-knees their name. Males and females look alike. Juveniles are similar but more heavily streaked above and less boldly blotched.

In flight, or when a bird stands with its wings raised, a strongly contrasting pattern appears: black flight feathers with white patches at the base of the primaries. The long tail extends well past the folded wingtips.

Behavior and diet

Cape thick-knees are nocturnal and crepuscular, most active at night and at dusk and dawn. By day they rest in the shade of a bush, in long grass or under low branches, standing or crouching still. A sleeping thick-knee crouches with its legs tucked under its breast and its head and neck stretched along the ground. On hot days it may lie down with both legs stretched out behind to cool off.

Outside the breeding season they are often social, gathering in loose daytime roosts of up to 70 birds. Breeding birds are usually alone or in pairs. They are most vocal at night and can be quite noisy, and they also call on overcast days, especially after rain. Their loud alarm call is useful to other animals too: some birds and mammals react to it, and springhares scatter when they hear it as owls approach.

When disturbed, a thick-knee usually runs off with its head held low, then flies strongly with shallow, stiff wingbeats. On landing it often holds its wings up briefly, then crouches or freezes until the danger passes.

It hunts only on the ground, in the manner of a plover: a few quick steps forward, a pause, then a fast peck. The diet is mainly insects and other arthropods. Beetles and termites are favorites, along with locusts, crickets, caterpillars, moths, bugs, bees and ants. Spiders, sun spiders, scorpions, snails and worms are also eaten, and on rare occasions small mammals, lizards, frogs and thread snakes. Its stomach usually holds a good deal of grit to help grind food.

Pairs are monogamous and are thought to stay together long term. The nest is a shallow scrape on open ground, often beside a grass tuft, stone or shrub, with a good view all round. It may be lined or ringed with twigs, leaves, pebbles, feathers or antelope droppings, or left bare. In southern Africa most eggs are laid from September to December. The usual clutch is two mottled, tawny to yellowish-grey eggs, and a pair that loses its eggs usually lays a replacement clutch, with up to four clutches in a season.

Both parents incubate, though the female does more, for up to 30 days. The eggs hatch together, and the adults eat the empty shells. The well-camouflaged chicks leave the nest within a day, are fed by both parents and lie flat with heads outstretched when danger threatens. Parents defend fiercely. They spread their wings, cock their tails and will peck an intruder, and they put on broken-wing, broken-back and broken-leg displays to lead predators away. Chicks fledge in up to eight weeks.

Range and habitat

The Cape thick-knee lives across most of sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal, Mali and Mauritania in the west to Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania in the east and south to South Africa. Isolated populations also live in the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula, including southern Yemen. It is absent from the tropical forest zone of West and Central Africa and from the driest parts of East Africa. In southern Africa it is widespread but avoids the driest Namib Desert, the high Drakensberg and Zimbabwe's eastern highlands.

It prefers open country with sparse ground cover and bare patches, especially stony ground, but needs some cover nearby for daytime rest. Typical habitats include grassland, savanna, woodland edges, fynbos, semi-arid Karoo scrub and low stony hills. It avoids true desert. Birds are often seen on gravel roads at night and sometimes on beaches.

This species copes well with people. It lives on cultivated and overgrazed land and commonly breeds in South African towns and cities, even near city centers, using large lawns, playing fields, parks, gardens and cemeteries.

Its closest lookalike is the slightly smaller water thick-knee, which often occurs alongside it. The Cape thick-knee lacks that species' greyish wing panel and thin white wing bar.

Conservation status

The IUCN rates the Cape thick-knee as Least Concern, in a 2016 assessment by BirdLife International. It has a very large range and its population is believed to be stable.

Clearing of bush and forest has even helped it spread into places that were once unsuitable. It has, however, disappeared from Lesotho and the former Transkei region of South Africa's Eastern Cape, where the constant presence of people and livestock, especially free-ranging pigs that eat eggs and chicks, makes breeding nearly impossible.

Other threats are local. The species was once hunted but is no longer considered a gamebird. Birds are sometimes shot at airports because of the risk of collisions with aircraft, and large numbers are killed by cars on roads at night in southern Africa.