Cape Thick Knee

Continuing on with South African wildlife, (completely unintentional, really) we have the Cape or Spotted Thick Knee. These guys are one of the 9 members of the Burhinidae family, birds who are typically nocturnal insectivores who inhabit tropical and sometimes temperate zones. The Cape Thick Knee resides in southern areas of the African continent, including the South African Cape, with the "thick knee" part coming from, well... their thick knees.

These birds are sedentary, meaning that they do not normally migrate. As already stated, they eat all kinds of invertebrate species, but they will also make meals of small mammals, reptiles and amphibians, and will also dine on the eggs and chicks of the White-Fronted Plover.The primary predators of Cape Thick Knees are other birds, such as eagles and owls. If a predator is after one of a Thick Knee's chicks, the chick will lie motionless while the adults will pretend to have a broken back or wings in order to draw attention away.
Cape Thick Knees are very monogamous birds. Not only do they stick to one breeding partner for a breeding season, they will stick with that partner for life.(Upon the death of one mate,the other will seek out a new one) Nests are just a scraping in the ground, through twigs and stones are sometimes used for lining. Each breeding pair may have multiple groups of young during the August to April breeding season. Both parents care for the chicks, and in years were multiple broods are laid, a older group of young will leave about ten days after the younger group hatches.