Spotted Thick knee.

Spotted Thick knee, not a very flattering name for quite an attractive bird. Took these photos five days ago at about 6 pm. There were a pair of birds foraging in a recently plowed field. 

Click to enlarge.

Spotted Thick knee (Burhinus capensis). Part of the Lapwing family.

These birds are mostly nocturnal but there was a big hatch of flying ants, (termites) which is one of their favourite foods, insects, especially beetles form most of their diet.  This bird is keeping a wary eye on the sky.

One of their characteristics are their big yellow eyes. Note the beak that looks as if it was dipped in ink.

The photo above was taken the same evening. Here I blended three different exposures, (HDR) to get this effect. The photo is pretty much what the eye sees but the camera is unable to capture in one exposure.