The genus Esacus was introduced (as a subgenus) in 1831 by the French naturalist René Lesson to accommodate the great stone-curlew.

[1] The name is from Ancient Greek aisakos an unidentified bird variously associated with a robin, a shorebird or a cormorant.

The great stone-curlew also favours water, often found close to large lakes or on the river shore.

[5] The great stone-curlew is found from coastal Iran and Pakistan through central India, Burma, Thailand to Hainan in China.

[6] They feed on crabs and other invertebrates; the great stone-curlew uses its large bill to overturn stones to find prey, and the beach stone-curlew uses its bill to break up crabs and eat them, which it catches by stalking them like a heron.