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Lifespan, longevity, and ageing

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Maximum longevity: 17.9 years (wild)
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Biology

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Stone curlews hunt at night. Their diet consists of invertebrates such as beetles, woodlice and earthworms, as well as the occasional small mammal or bird, all of which are taken from the soil surface (3). They return to England from the over-wintering grounds in March, and pairs, which may be life-long, return to traditional nesting sites. The nest is a scrape on the ground in which two eggs are laid (2). Eggs and juveniles are cryptically coloured to provide camouflage against the stony substrate. The chicks improve this camouflage by their habit of freezing flattened against the ground when disturbed or threatened (2). If chicks or eggs are lost the pair may produce a second brood (2).
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Conservation

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The stone curlew is a UK Biodiversity Action Plan species, and is targeted by a Species Recovery Programme carried out by English Nature and the RSPB. Under this programme, nests on arable farmland have been located and protected with the help of farmers and landowners. Agri-environment schemes have been used to improve farmland habitat for the stone curlew, for example under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme farmers in the south-west of England are paid to create nesting areas for the species. A number of important stone-curlew areas are designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) or National Nature Reserves (NNRs). In addition, Ministry of Defence training areas where stone curlews occur are managed in ways that benefit the species, for example by providing large areas for nesting habitat (3).
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Description

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The specific name Oedicnemus derives from the Greek for 'swollen shinned', these birds are also known as 'thick knees' due to their large heavy looking legs (4); other local names include 'Norfolk plover' and 'Goggle eyes' (2). Stone curlews have streaky sandy- brown plumage that provides excellent camouflage against sandy soils during the day when they are mainly inactive (2). In flight, narrow black and white bars on the long wings are visible. They have long yellow legs, a short yellow bill with a black tip and large eyes (2). The species is not related to the curlew; the common name comes from the stone curlew's repeated 'kur-lee' call (4).
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Habitat

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The stone curlew breeds on semi-natural grassland, chalk downland, grass heaths, and on agricultural land (3). It is associated with free-draining stony soils, and nesting occurs on stony ground, particularly with short or patchy vegetation (3). On semi-natural grassland grazing by sheep and rabbits can provide a short sward suitable for stone curlews to breed (3).
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Range

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This species has a discontinuous breeding range in Europe, extending from southern Britain (the north-western extreme of the range) east to southern Russia and south to Spain, southern Italy, the Balkans and the Caucasus in Russia. They over-winter in Spain, North Africa and the southern extreme of the Sahara (3). In the UK, stone curlews were formerly widespread up into the Cotswolds, Yorkshire and the East Midlands (3). They are now found mainly in Brecklands and Wessex, with a few pairs elsewhere in East Anglia (5).
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Status

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Listed under the Birds of Conservation Concern Red List, Annex 1 of the EC Birds Directive, and Appendix II of the Bern Convention. Protected in the UK under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (3).
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Threats

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A rare and declining summer visitor, stone curlew numbers dropped by 85% over 50 years up to the early 1990s. The current UK population was estimated to be over 200 pairs in 2000, following a partial recovery (2). The main causes of this decline are thought to be the loss of semi-natural habitat through conversion to arable and a decrease in grazing on remaining grasslands (5). Pairs breeding on agricultural land have suffered from changes in agricultural practices. Better crop husbandry has reduced the number of bare patches suitable for nesting, and both nests and chicks are at risk from agricultural machinery (3). Egg collecting is a serious threat, and disturbance from recreational activities including birdwatching may also be a problem. Furthermore, predation by foxes has increased in some areas and may cause heavy losses of chicks and eggs (3).
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Status in Egypt

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Regular passage visitor and winter visitor.

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Eurasian stone-curlew

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The Eurasian stone-curlew, Eurasian thick-knee, or simply stone-curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus) is a northern species of the Burhinidae (stone-curlew) bird family.

Taxonomy

The Eurasian stone-curlew was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Charadrius oedicnemus. He specified the locality as England.[2] The name Oedicnemus had been used earlier by the French naturalist Pierre Belon in 1655.[3] The species is now placed in the genus Burhinus that was introduced by the German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger in 1811.[4][5] The genus name combines the Greek bous meaning "ox" with rhis meaning "nose". The species name oedicnemus combines the Greek oidio meaning "to swell", and kneme meaning "shin" or "leg", referring to the bird's prominent tibiotarsal joints,[6] which also give it the common name of "thick-knee". This is an abbreviated form of Thomas Pennant's 1776 coinage "thick-kneed bustard".[7][8]

The name "stone curlew" was recorded by Francis Willughby in 1678 as a "third sort of Godwit, which in Cornwall they call the Stone-Curlew, differing from the precedent in that it hath a much shorter and slenderer Bill than either of them".[9] It derives from the bird's nocturnal calls sounding like the only distantly related Eurasian curlew Numenius arquata and its preference for barren stony heaths.[10]

Five subspecies are recognised:[5]

  • B. o. oedicnemus (Linnaeus, 1758) – west, south Europe to the Balkans, Ukraine and Caucasus
  • B. o. distinctus (Bannerman, 1914) – west Canary Islands[11]
  • B. o. insularum (Sassi, 1908) – east Canary Islands
  • B. o. saharae (Reichenow, 1894) – north Africa and the Mediterranean islands to Iraq and Iran
  • B. o. harterti Vaurie, 1963 – west Kazakhstan to Pakistan and northwest India

The Indian stone-curlew Burhinus indicus was previously considered as a subspecies of the Eurasian stone-curlew.[5][12]

Description

It is a fairly large wader though is mid-sized by the standards of its family. Length ranges from 38 to 46 cm (15 to 18 in), wingspan from 76 to 88 cm (30 to 35 in) and weight from 290 to 535 g (10.2 to 18.9 oz).[13][14] with a strong yellow and black beak, large yellow eyes (which give it a "reptilian", or "goggle-eyed" appearance), and cryptic plumage. The bird is striking in flight, with black and white wing markings.

Distribution and habitat

The Eurasian stone curlew occurs throughout Europe, north Africa and southwestern Asia. It is a summer migrant in the more temperate European and Asian parts of its range, wintering in Africa. Despite being classed as a wader, this species prefers dry open habitats with some bare ground.

Behaviour and ecology

Eggs in the Museum Wiesbaden collection

It is largely nocturnal, particularly when singing its loud wailing songs, which are reminiscent of that of curlews. Food consists of insects and other small invertebrates, and occasionally small reptiles, frogs and rodents.

Breeding

Eurasian stone-curlews probably first breed when they are three years old. The eggs are laid at two day intervals in a scrape on open ground. The clutch normally consists of 2 eggs which are on average 54 mm × 38 mm (2.1 in × 1.5 in). The eggs are pale buff and are variably spotted, streaked or blotched with brown or purple grey. Both sexes incubate the eggs beginning after the last egg is laid. The eggs hatch after 24–26 days. The precocial young leave the nest soon after hatching and are then cared for by both parents for 36–42 days. Normally only a single brood is raised each year but a replacement clutch is laid after the loss of eggs or the loss of small young.[15]

The maximum recorded age recorded from ring-recovery data within the British Isles is 22 years and 4 months for a bird ringed as a nestling in Suffolk in 1990 and caught again in Suffolk in 2012.[16]

Status

Although categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as of Least Concern,[1] some populations are showing declines due to agricultural intensification. For example, a French population has declined with 26% over 14 years.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b BirdLife International (2018). "Burhinus oedicnemus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T45111439A132038252. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T45111439A132038252.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 151.
  3. ^ Belon, Pierre (1655). L'histoire de la natvre des oyseavx : avec levrs descriptions, & naïfs portraicts retirez du natvrel, escrite en sept livres (in French). Paris: Gilles Corrozet. p. 239.
  4. ^ Illiger, Johann Karl Wilhelm (1811). Prodromus systematis mammalium et avium (in Latin). Berolini [Berlin]: Sumptibus C. Salfeld. p. 250.
  5. ^ a b c Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2021). "Buttonquail, thick-knees, sheathbills, plovers, oystercatchers, stilts, painted-snipes, jacanas, Plains-wanderer, seedsnipes". IOC World Bird List Version 11.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  6. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 81, 280. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  7. ^ Lockwood 1993, p. 153.
  8. ^ Pennant, Thomas (1776). British Zoology. Vol. 1 (4th ed.). Warrington, United Kingdom: Printed by William Eyres, for Benjamin White. pp. 287–289.
  9. ^ Willughby, Francis (1678). The Ornithology of Francis Willughby of Middleton in the County of Warwick. London: John Martyn. p. 293.
  10. ^ Lockwood 1993, pp. 148–149.
  11. ^ Tosco, Rubén Barone; Siverio, Felipe; Trujillo, D. (1992). "Datos recientes sobre el Alcaraván (Burhinus oedicnemus L. 1758) en la Isla de La Palma (Canarias): notas" [Recent data on the Stone Curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus) on La Palma (Canary Islands): notes]. Vieraea: Folia Scientarum Biologicarum Canariensium (in Spanish). 21: 168. ISSN 0210-945X.
  12. ^ Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Anderton, John C. (2012). Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Vol. 2: Attributes and Status (2nd ed.). Washington D.C. and Barcelona: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and Lynx Edicions. pp. 181–182. ISBN 978-84-96553-87-3.
  13. ^ "Eurasian Thick-knee - Burhinus oedicnemus". www.birdsinbulgaria.org. Birds in Bulgaria. 2011.
  14. ^ Dunning, John B. Jr., ed. (1992). CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses. CRC Press. ISBN 978-0-8493-4258-5.
  15. ^ Cramp 1983, p. 78.
  16. ^ Robinson, R.A.; Leech, D.I.; Clark, J.A. (2020). "The Online Demography Report: Bird ringing and nest recording in Britain & Ireland in 2019". Thetford: British Trust for Ornithology. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  17. ^ Gaget, Elie; Fay, Remi; Augiron, Steve; Villers, Alexandre; Bretagnolle, Vincent (2019). "Long-term decline despite conservation efforts questions Eurasian Stone-curlew population viability in intensive farmlands" (PDF). Ibis. 161 (2): 359–371. doi:10.1111/ibi.12646. ISSN 1474-919X. S2CID 54079830.
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Eurasian stone-curlew: Brief Summary

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The Eurasian stone-curlew, Eurasian thick-knee, or simply stone-curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus) is a northern species of the Burhinidae (stone-curlew) bird family.

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