Bush stone-curlew
species of bird
The bush stone-curlew or bush thick-knee (Burhinus grallarius, obsolete name Burhinus magnirostris) is a large, ground-dwelling bird endemic to Australia. Its favoured habitat is open plains and woodlands, where it stalks slowly at night in search of invertebrates such as insects. Its grey-brown coloration is distinguished by dark streaks, its eyes are large and legs are long. It is capable of flight, but relies on the camouflage of its plumage to evade detection during the day; the bush curlew adopts a rigid posture when it becomes aware of an observer. Both sexes care for two eggs laid on the bare ground, usually sited near bush in a shaded position or next to a fallen branch.
Taxonomy
The bush stone-curlew was first described by English ornithologist John Latham in 1801 under the binomial name Charadrius grallarius.
Latham published three names simultaneously; however, the seniority of C. grallarius follows the publication of the names in John Gould's Birds of Australia in 1845.
Until a revision determining the priority of names assigned to this species, ornithologists cited the description under the epithet B. magnirostris. Descriptions of subspecies were published by Gregory Mathews in 1912, B. m. rufescens and B. m.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1260615. The Library of Congress control number is sh2002000069. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1801, 1845 and 1912.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bush stone-curlew” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.