ABSTRACT
Nine species, with representatives in all zoogeographical regions except the Nearctic. Four occur in the Afrotropical Region including Kenya, where three breed and one is a migrant from the Palearctic. They are most active at night, but are often visible while resting in sheltered situations during the day. A Palearctic species, wintering in the South (S) periphery of the Sahara, East (E) to Ethiopia, and S to North (N) Uganda, Kenya and the northeast borders of Tanzania. Records further S on the rift valley lakes, S to L Bogoria 50C, overlap the range of the closely related and otherwise allopatric Water Thicknee, and most probably refer to non-breeding wanderers (Br). Like the Senegal, with which it is allopatric, the Water Thicknee is resident on lake shores and river banks adjacent to woodland or bush, in which it shelters during the day.
