CreatureData

Water thick-knee

Burhinus vermiculatus (Cabanis, 1868)

LCLeast Concernbirds

The water thick-knee (Burhinus vermiculatus) is a species in the family Burhinidae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 297 g to 320 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Water thick-knee (Burhinus vermiculatus)
Photo: Greg Miles from Australia · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the water thick-knee

Weight
297 g – 320 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
wetlandsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
2src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the water thick-knee live?

Not recorded

What is the water thick-knee?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The water thick-knee or water dikkop (Burhinus vermiculatus) is a species of bird in the thick-knee family Burhinidae. The species is found across sub-Saharan Africa, usually close to water.

From the Wikipedia article “Water thick-knee” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Water_thick-knee&oldid=1372462851), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the water thick-knee endangered?

The water thick-knee is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the water thick-knee classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCharadriiformes
  5. familyBurhinidae
  6. genusBurhinus
  7. SpeciesBurhinus vermiculatus (Cabanis, 1868)
Other names and names in other languages (40)
  • Water dikkopEnglish
  • Water dikkopEnglish
  • WATKEnglish
  • كروان مائيArabic
  • Su pərttəgözüAzerbaijani
  • Bourlagad-dourBreton
  • torlit d'aiguaCatalan
  • dytík tmavýCzech
  • dytík vodníCzech
  • rhedwr y dŵrWelsh
  • VandtrielDanish
  • WassertrielGerman
  • akva trieloEsperanto
  • Alcaraván acuáticoSpanish
  • kalda-jämejalgEstonian
  • rantapaksujalkaFinnish
  • Œdicnème vermiculéFrench
  • Oedicnème vermiculéFrench
  • כרוון המיםHebrew
  • močvarna ćukavicaCroatian
  • parti ugartyúkHungarian
  • Occhione acquaioloItalian
  • Occhione vermicolatoItalian
  • ミズベイシチドリJapanese
  • vandeninis storkulnisLithuanian
  • Beʼekʼidbąąh goditáníNavajo
  • watergrielDutch
  • vanntrielNorwegian
  • kulon nadwodnyPolish
  • alcaravão-d'águaPortuguese
  • alcaravão-de-águaPortuguese
  • Водяная авдоткаRussian
  • ležiak vodnýSlovak
  • Vodeni ćurlikovacSerbian
  • vattentjockfotSwedish
  • Su KocagözüTurkish
  • mongwangwaTswana
  • лежень заїрськийUkrainian
  • 水石鴴Chinese
  • 水石鸻Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the water thick-knee

Other species in the same genus Burhinus.

CompareWater thick-knee vs Eurasian stone-curlewWater thick-knee vs Senegal thick-kneeWater thick-knee vs Spotted thick-kneeWater thick-knee vs Bush stone-curlew

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the water thick-knee?

An adult water thick-knee weighs 297 g – 320 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the water thick-knee endangered?

The water thick-knee is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the water thick-knee?

The water thick-knee (Burhinus vermiculatus) belongs to the family Burhinidae in the order Charadriiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Water thick-knee (Burhinus vermiculatus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/water-thick-knee

MLA

“Water thick-knee (Burhinus vermiculatus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/water-thick-knee.

BibTeX
@misc{water_thick_knee_2026,
  title = {Water thick-knee (Burhinus vermiculatus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/water-thick-knee},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}