Spotted Dikkop
Leisure Island, Knysna, South Africa
The spotted dikkop, or spotted thick-knee, is a bird of savanna, grassland and woodland fringes in Sub-Saharan Africa. It has also adapted to parks and gardens in many parts of it range. It is a nocturnal bird and well camouflaged during the day when it stands or sqats, stationary even when intruders are close.
Feeding
A nocturnal, terrestrial hunter, the spotted dikkop feeds on insects, lizards and small mammals. It forages like a plover, with little runs and quick jabs with its beak to skewer its prey.
Breeding (August - April)
The spotted dikkop is a monogamous and usually solitary ground nester, lining a shallow scrape with twigs, grass, leaves, feathers or even pebbles. One to three brown mottled eggs,are incubated by both male and female and both raise the chicks. The birds defend the nest with wings spread to appear large, as shown in the photograph, and will attack intruders. They may also pretend injury in order to lure predators away from the nest. Chicks are precocial and leave the nest within 24 hours of hatching.
Wildfile Specials
- Dikkop means thickhead in Afrikaans.
- Spotted dikkops have yellow eyes that give them a reptilian appearance.
- Spotted dikkops may produce multiple broods in a season with overlaps where the chicks only become independent around ten days after the hatching of the next brood.
- Nests in urban settings are frequently robbed by both cats and dogs as well as by wild predators.
