Beach Stone Curlew

As this is Wednesday, I am showing you another Australian bird called the Beach Stone-curlew, Esacus magnirostris also known as Beach Thick-knee.  It is a large, ground-dwelling bird that occurs in Australasia, the islands of South-east Asia. At (22 in) and (2.2 lbs), it is one of the world's largest shorebirds and I will be showing you a video of it at the end of this post,

on Dunk Island, Queensland.

We hired a boat from Mission Bay, Queensland and made our way out to Dunk Island.  This island had been devastated by the cyclone a few years ago and the whole resort destroyed.  Only last year had the public been allowed to land on the island again and in the future it is hoped that it will be rebuilt.

The Bush Stone Curlew is less strictly nocturnal than most stone-curlews, and can sometimes be seen foraging by daylight, moving slowly and deliberately, with occasional short runs. It tends to be wary and fly off into the distance ahead of the observer, employing slow, rather stiff wing beats.

The Beach Stone-curlew is a resident of undisturbed open beaches, exposed reefs, mangroves, and tidal sand or mudflats over a large range, including coastal eastern Australia as far south as far eastern Victoria, the northern Australian coast and nearby islands, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. It is uncommon over most of its range, and rare south of Cairns.

Adults have a large head, massive up tilted bill, hunched profile, stout legs and thick 'knees' (actually ankles). The upper body is predominately grey-brown with distinctive black and white patterning on the face, shoulder and secondary wings. The throat and breast are a paler grey-brown, the belly is white and the wings are white with some black on the tips. The large bill is yellow at the base and black at the tip. Beach Stone-Curlews have a large yellow eye and a broad black eye patch, with white bands above and below it.

Feeding: 

The Beach Stone Curlew forages on large intertidal mudflats, sand flats, sandbanks and sandpits by low tide for crabs and other marine invertebrates.

Breeding:

 Their nests may be located on sandbanks, sandpits, or island in estuaries, coral ridges, among mangroves or in the sand surrounded by short grass and scattered casuarinas. Typically one egg is laid per season above the high tide line on an open beach where it is vulnerable to predation and human disturbance The female may lay a second egg is the first is lost. Once the young have hatched both parents care for them until they reach 7-12 months old.

The Beach Stone Curlew is classifies as Near Threatened on the
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

This was my daughter, son in law and 2 grand children landing at Dunk Island.

These are a few of the buildings that have been destroyed by Cyclone Yasi.

 Looking back at a few of the other islands we visited.

One of the beaches on Dunk island.

Now the video can be accessed at
http://youtu.be/k81_W-JwbP0

If there is a black space below, click it and the video wil appear.



I hope you enjoyed the Beach Stone Curlew and next Wednesday I hope to show you the Bush Stone Curlew and you will discover the differences.

Tomorrow we are back again at Carisbrooke Castle to see the beautiful Chapel and  Princess Beatrice Gardens.

I am linking with Wild Bird Wednesday