Double-striped Thick-knee in Texas

Note: This analysis is a contribution to the journal North American Birds, vol. 76 no. 2 (2025). North American Birds, published by the ABA, is the long-running journal of ornithological record for the entire continent.

O​n 14 Sep 2025, a juvenile Double-striped Thick-knee was discovered on private ranchland near Pandora, Wilson Co, Texas. It will be scrutinized by the Texas Bird Records Committee (TBRC) and will likely represent the second ABA Area record of this species.

Ginger Coleman initially reported the thick-knee to the “Birding Texas!” Facebook group as an identification request: “My son spotted this bird near Nixon, Texas, this morning. Didn’t get very clear shots, but can someone help with the ID?”

After quick online identification, Ginger graciously arranged access for birders to visit the ranch of her son, Micah Coleman. Over the afternoon of 14 Sep, dozens of birders and photographers enjoyed excellent views. The bird was seen only that day despite much searching on 15 Sep.

In a follow-up comment, Ginger wrote, “By the way, the credit goes to my grandson and granddaughter, Cutter and Cricket Coleman, who spotted it as they were leaving the house this morning. My son Micah realized it was something pretty unusual, so I posted it here. So glad so many people are getting to add this one to their life lists!”

Double-striped Thick-knee is a widespread but local resident of Middle and South America, where it favors dry pastures, scrub, and edges of cultivated fields in lowlands (LaBarbera 2023). In the ABA Area, it has a very limited history:

• Texas, 1961: On 5 Dec 1961, while surveying wintering geese in Kleberg Co, Texas, C. D. MacInnes and E. B. Chamberlain discovered a juvenile female Double-striped Thick-knee on the Laureles Division of the King Ranch near the Laguna Madre (eBird checklist S14183578). The bird was collected and subsequently identified as Burhinus bistriatus bistriatus at the U.S. National Museum (Macinnes and Chamberlain 1963), and it provides the only accepted record in the ABA Area.
• Arizona, 1989: A tame bird transplanted from Guatemala was documented in Yuma County, Arizona, in Nov. 1989, and it was not accepted as a naturally occurring vagrant (Taylor 1998).

Outside the ABA Area, the following record is of note.

• The Bahamas, 2003: A pair nested in 2003 on Great Inagua (Howell et al. 2014), about 70 mi. (110 km) north of Haiti. The species is resident on Hispaniola. This record demonstrates the species’s ability for dispersal.

E​lsewhere in the Neotropics, Double-striped Thick-knee is sometimes kept semi-domesticated both to control insects and as a “watchdog” due to its nocturnal activity and loud alarm calls (Howell et al. 2014). (Consider how vocal the moderately related Killdeer is upon detecting an intruder.) Other birds kept as watchdogs include peafowl and guineafowl. This watchdog phenomenon has sometimes complicated the assessment of natural vagrancy; however, Double-striped Thick-knee records in Texas fit a broader trend. Increasing records in eastern Mexico now align with a pattern of range and population expansion. Over recent decades, deforestation and conversion of forests to pastures and cropland in eastern Mexico have increased the availability of open habitats favored by thick-knees. These changes have resulted in increases in the northernmost population and a corresponding increase in northward dispersal.

Double-striped Thick-knees are resident in open habitats—natural and human-created—on the North Gulf Coastal Plain of Mexico, less than 300 miles from South Texas. Recent sightings of individual birds have occurred just south of the U.S.–Mexico border in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, in 2017 (S39465551) and Bustamante, Nuevo León, in 2022 (S152618598). The species has also recently spread west along the Pacific coast of Mexico, well into Oaxaca. This pattern of range expansion recalls other species (e.g., Southern Lapwing, Pearl Kite, Yellow-headed Caracara, Melodious Blackbird) benefiting from deforestation in Middle America.

 

Sightings of Double-striped Thick-knee through 2013 (left) vs though 2025 (right). Images provided by eBird and created 17 Sep 2025.

 

 

Google Earth Satellite imagery showing the extent of deforestation (and spread of open habitats favored by thick-knees) from 1984 (left) to 2025 (right). Images © Google 2025.

Observers of the thick-knee in Wilson Co noted that it appeared alert but not unusually tame. It favored short pastures and patches of low “doveweed” (Croton texensis), where it foraged and rested. Its behavior was seemingly typical for a wild individual, and it lacked telltale signs of captivity: leg bands, damaged feathers, and abnormal beak wear. Thus, it seems to have been a naturally occurring individual rather than a recently released captive bird.

 

A​lthough not globally threatened, Double-striped Thick-knee’s population trends are linked to land-use change. The species is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, but local declines occur where natural grasslands are lost to urban development. Conversely, the species benefits from pastures and open areas created by humans—a paradox that has contributed to its northward spread.

The Wilson Co bird seemingly represents only the second ABA Area record of Double-striped Thick-knee and the first credible record of a naturally occurring individual in Texas since 1961. It highlights the continuing ecological consequences of deforestation and human settlement patterns in Mexico, which are altering the ranges of several Neotropical species.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Ginger, Micah, Cutter, and Cricket Coleman for their hospitality and for promptly sharing the news with the birding community. Their openness allowed dozens of birders to enjoy this exceptional find.

References

Howell, Steve N. G., Ian Lewington, and Will Russell. 2014. Rare Birds of North America. Princeton University Press.

LaBarbera, Katie. 2023. “Double-striped Thick-knee – Hesperoburhinus bistriatus.” Birds of the World. Accessed 15 Sep 2025.

Macinnes, C. D., and E. B. Chamberlain. 1963. “The First Record of the Double-striped Thick-knee in the United States.” Auk. 80(1): 14.

Taylor, Monte. 1998. “Double-striped Thick-Knee” at tsuru-bird.net. Accessed 15 Sep 2025.

Recommended Citation: Ford-Hutchinson, Tom. 2025. Double-striped Thick-knee in Texas: a 2025 Record Plus Historical Analysis. North American Birds. 76(2).