Double-striped Thick-knee - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by Steve G
Palo Verde, Guanacaste, Costa Rica, July 2008

Hesperoburhinus bistriatus

Burhinus bistriatus

Identification

Subspecies vocifer
Photo © by DABS
Port of Spain, Trinidad, July 2018

43–48 cm (17-19 in)

• Grey brown above with fine streaks
• Pale brown neck
• White belly
• White supercilium with black stripe above
• Yellow iris
• Black and yellow bill
• Long green-grey legs

Juvenile

• Dark brown above
• White nape

Distribution

Hispaniola; arid southern Mexico to Guyana and northern Brazil. Recent breeding record in the Bahamas.

Accidental vagrant to Texas (1 record).

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 4 subspecies¹:

• H. b. bistriatus:

• Arid southern Mexico to north-western Costa Rica

• H. b. dominicensis

• Hispaniola

• H. b. pediacus

• Savanna and pastures of northern Colombia

• H. b. vocifer:

• Venezuela to Guyana and extreme northern Brazil

Habitat

Bushy savanna and open grassland, mostly dry areas.

Behaviour

Nocturnal and crepuscular.

Diet

Their diet is not well documented, but they are known to eat insects, worms and molluscs with the addition of lizards and small rodents on occasion too.

Breeding

They nest in a bare scrape usually some distance from nearest cover. The clutch consists of 2 olive-brown eggs which are incubated by both parents for 25-27 days.

The incubating bird seems to have a shorter flight distance in the middle of the day compared to early or late; presumably this is to protect the eggs from overheating which can be a danger during the very hot mid day.

Vocalisation

Song: it sings at night; kee-kee-kee.

References

1. Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2023. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2023. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved July 2018)
3. Pereira & Amat 2010. Nesting of the Double-striped Thick-knee in a hot environment. Ornithologia Neotropical 21(1):149-154
4. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Double-striped Thick-knee. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Double-striped_Thick-knee

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