Birds of India - The New Synopsis

A complete checklist of bird species and subspecies found in India

Charadriiformes (Shorebirds, Gulls, and Terns)

Burhinidae (Thick-knees)

• Esacus Lesson, 1831 Traité d'Ornithologie, ou Tableau Méthodique des ordres, sous-ordres, familles, tribus, genres, sous-genres et races d'oiseaux livr.7 p.547 Oedicnemus recurvirostris Cuvier, 1829; Type by monotypy
  • 192. Beach Thick-knee Esacus magnirostris (Vieillot, 1818) [HB#438]
    Original Description: OEdicnemus magnirostris Vieillot, 1818 Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle, appliquée aux arts, à l'agriculture, à l'économie rurale et domestique, à la médecine, etc. Nouvelle édition 23 p.231
    Alternative Names: Beach Stone-Curlew, Australian Stone Plover
    Distribution: Most islets around Andaman as well as N, Middle, S, and Little Andaman Is.
    Specimens: BNHS, USNM
    IUCN: Near Threatened. WLPA: Schedule-II.
    Notes: Its presence in Great Nicobar likely but requires evidence. Specimens are from North Burton Is. (BNHS #21920) and Cinque Is. (USNM #178810) – both in Andaman group of islands.
  
  
  • 193. Great Thick-knee Esacus recurvirostris (Cuvier, 1829) [HB#437]
    Original Description: OEdicnemus recurvirostris Cuvier, 1829 Le règne animal distribué d'aprés son organisation, pour servir de base a l'histoire naturelle des animaux et d'introduction à l'anatomie comparée. Nouvelle édition, revue et augmentée ed. 2, 1 p.500
    Alternative Names: Great Stone-Curlew, Great Stone Plover
    Distribution: Throughout India except Thar region and high Himalaya; extending east along Assam plains and Manipur valley.
    Specimens: BNHS, UMMZ, AMNH, FMNH, MCZ, ROM, USNM, YPM, HYD
    IUCN: Near Threatened. SoIB: High. WLPA: Schedule-II.
  
  
• Burhinus Illiger, 1811 Prodromus systematis mammalium et avium: additis terminis zoographicis utriusque classis, eorumque versione germanica p.250 Charadrius magnirostris Latham, 1801; Type by monotypy = Charadrius grallarius Latham, 1801
  • 194. Indian Thick-knee Burhinus indicus (Salvadori, 1865) [HB#436]
    Original Description: Oedicnemus indicus Salvadori, 1865 Atti della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale in Milano 8 p.381 (Environs of Sardhana, Uttar Pradesh)
    Taxonomy: Follows H&M4 in dating it as 1865 (contra Aimassi 2022, Zoological Bibliography 8 (4): 59, see Praveen & Jayapal 2023, IB 18 (5): 132). Subspecies mayeri Koelz 1939, from Londa (N Karnataka), synonymised with the nominate subspecies and hence treated here as monotypic. See Praveen & Aimassi (2024, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 144 (1): 74) for details the type locality.
    Alternative Names: Indian Stone-Curlew; Eurasian Stone-Curlew/Eurasian Thick-knee (with B. oedicnemus)
    Distribution: Throughout India except Himalaya, W Ghats and NE Indian hills.
    Type Specimen: MZNT#Av4086 (Syntype).
    Specimens: BNHS, ZSI, MZNT, UMMZ, AMNH, FMNH, MCZ, ROM, USNM, YPM, TNHM, FTLB
    IUCN: Least Concern. SoIB: Low. WLPA: Schedule-II.
    Notes: Lakshadweep report not investigated as to this species or B. oedicenemus harterti Vaurie 1963. Similarly, AR2001 lists W Rajasthan and Kachchh in the range of harterti but no definitive specimens to back and Kachchh birds are closer to indicus (Abdulali 1970, JBNHS 67 (2): 288). RA2012's range statement of all birds east of Indus being indicus followed here.