---
title: "Beach Stone-curlew"
description: "Esacus magnirostris — Birds. The beach stone-curlew (Esacus magnirostris) or beach thick-knee is a large, ground-dwelling bird that occurs in Australasia, the islands of South-east Asia."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/beach-stone-curlew
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Beach Stone-curlew

> Esacus magnirostris — Birds. The beach stone-curlew (Esacus magnirostris) or beach thick-knee is a large, ground-dwelling bird that occurs in Australasia, the islands of South-east Asia.

- Scientific name: *Esacus magnirostris*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 1981
- Wikidata: [Q339273](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q339273)
- iNaturalist taxon: [144483](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/144483)

## Names

- en: Beach Stone-curlew
- de: Rifftriel
- es: Alcaraván Picogrueso Australiano
- fr: Œdicnème des récifs
- it: Esacus giganteus
- nl: Rifgriel
- pt: Téu-téu-da-praia
- pl: Kulon plażowy

## Countries with the most observations

AU (1759), ID (92), MM (17), IN (12), PH (12), TL (7), SB (6), PG (5)

## Summary

The beach stone-curlew (Esacus magnirostris) or beach thick-knee is a large, ground-dwelling bird that occurs in Australasia, the islands of South-east Asia. At 55 cm (22 in) and 1 kg (2.2 lb), it is one of the world's largest shorebirds. 
It 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 wingbeats..
The beach stone-curlew is classified as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In New…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beach_stone-curlew

## Photo

![Beach Stone-curlew](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/beach-stone-curlew/medium.jpg)

Photo: russnamitz · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/347118328

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/beach-stone-curlew?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).