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Updated India Estimates Put Great Thick-knee at −59.5% Long Term and −3% per Year Recently

Great thick-knee walking along the edge of the Chambal River in India
Conservation · Population & status

The 2025 interim update from State of India’s Birds reported revised national trend estimates for the great thick-knee (Esacus recurvirostris) in India. The numerical update was released on 6 May 2026 as part of the project’s updated eBird-based dataset.

The long-term numerical estimate was −59.5%, while the current annual estimate was −3% per year. Both updated estimates clearly supported a decline. The species page still displays the carried-over 2023 category Rapid Decline for both the long-term and current annual trends; these labels were not recalculated from the 2025 numerical estimates.

The species’ modelled distribution range in India was estimated at 429,813 km². State of India’s Birds lists the great thick-knee as a resident wetland specialist, identifies Madhya Pradesh and Odisha as key states, and retains the species in the High conservation-priority category.

The interim release updated numerical range and trend estimates for 942 previously assessed bird species using approximately 48 million eBird observations through 31 May 2025. The trend values describe change in a reporting-based abundance index rather than direct counts of individual birds. The assessment categories themselves were not recalculated in this update.

Sources and image credit

  1. State of India’s Birds Partnership. (2026). State of India’s Birds: Range, trends, and conservation status – 2025 interim update (Version 2) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20036633Primary 2026 dataset release created 6 May 2026. Version 2 updated numerical distribution range size, long-term trend and current annual trend values for 942 previously evaluated species using approximately 48 million eBird observations through 31 May 2025; the assessment categories were unchanged.
  2. State of India’s Birds Partnership. (2025). State of India’s Birds factsheet: Great Thick-knee (Esacus recurvirostris), Punjab.The Punjab page’s 2025 table displays the India-wide numerical values alongside Punjab estimates: India long-term trend −59.45% (−71.55 to −43.36), current annual trend −2.97% (−4.61 to −1.32), and distribution range 429,813 km² (429,171–430,455). The assessment categories at the top of this page refer to Punjab, not the national India assessment.
  3. SoIB. (2023). State of India’s Birds, 2023: Range, trends, and conservation status. The SoIB Partnership. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11124589Primary national assessment whose categories remain in force after the 2025 numerical update: Great Thick-knee is High Priority, with Rapid Decline for both the long-term and current annual trends.

Image: Charles J. Sharp — great thick-knee (Esacus recurvirostris) photographed on the Chambal River in Uttar Pradesh, India, 24 November 2017; representative species image for the national trend update, cropped to 16:9 from the original. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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