Urban Bush Thickknees

["Greg & Val Clancy" <>]

Hi Peter,

The name 'Thick-knee' is not only an unpleasant sounding name it is also 
wrong.  Birds don't have knees and the joint that is equivalent to the knee 
in humans is well hidden by feathers.  The joint often considered to be the 
'knee' i.e. the joint between the tibia and the tarsus is actually 
equivalent to the human ankle.  Maybe 'Thick-knee' refers to the hidden 
joint at the top of the tibia but regardless of this Australian birds have 
been officially known as Stone-curlews for a very long time.  The name was 
changed to 'Thick-knee' for a short time and it was picked up by the field 
guides.  I am blown away by the broad adoption of 'Thick-knee' as 
conservative birdos are usually reluctant to accept new official names, but 
not in this case.
Both editions of Christidis and Boles (1994 and 2007) have retained 
'Stone-curlew' as the second part of the common name for both species in 
Australia.

Greg Clancy