Spur-winged Lapwing (Vanellus spinosus)

Other Scientific Names
Hoplopterus spinosus [Cramp and Simmons (1977-1994)], Hoplopterus spinosus [AERC TAC (2003)]

Other Names (World)
Spur-winged Lapwing, Spur-winged Plover

Family
Charadriidae (Plovers)

Size
27 - 30 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Habitat
Dry ground close to fresh or saline pools, lakes, rivers, lagoons or marshes, burnt grassland, cultivated, flooded or irrigated fields, saltflats by alkaline lakes, mudflats, sandflats, beaches, dunes and coastal saltpans.

Range (Guide)

Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], C�te dIvoire, Cyprus (B), Djibouti, Egypt (B), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Greece (B), Guinea, Guinea-bissau, Iran [Islamic Republic of] (NB), Iraq (B) (NB), Israel (B), Jordan (B) (NB), Kenya, Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of] (B), Malawi (B), Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic (B), Tanzania [United Republic of], Togo, Turkey (B) (NB), Uganda, United Arab Emirates (NB), Yemen (B).

Vagrant to Angola, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska), Czech Republic, Gabon, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liberia, Malta, Montenegro, Oman, Qatar, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia (Slovak Republic), Spain (NB), Ukraine, Zambia.

Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East up R Nile to central and southern Sudan, and south of Sahara from Senegal through Nigeria to Ethiopia, and south to Uganda and Kenya.

Population
Estimated population is 130,000 - 800,000 (2010).

Status LC
Loss of natural and semi-natural saltmarsh habitats is the main threat.

For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Habits
Outside of the breeding season flocks of up to 15 (occasionally up to 200).

Food
Predominantly adult and larval insects. Also spiders, centipedes, millipedes and occasionally crustaceans, molluscs, small lizards, tadpoles, adult frogs, fish and seeds.

Voice
Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (98)...)

Spur-winged Lapwing (Vanellus spinosus) [XC110347]
by S\u0142awomir Karpicki-Ignatowski from Technop\u00f4le, Dakar, Senegal (alarm call)

Spur-winged Lapwing (Vanellus) [XC510468]
by Joost van Bruggen from Nyumba ya Mungu dam, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (call)

Nest
A shallow natural depressions in rock or is a shallow scrape on dry bare ground or on mudflats. In solitary pairs or loose colonies.

Subspecies
Forms superspecies with River Lapwing (Vanellus duvaucelii), with which sometimes considered conspecific.

No subspecies.

References
See References.

Files:

JPG files for Spur-winged Lapwing (Vanellus spinosus) - 10 files

More Information

BirdLife International

For more information about the Spur-winged Lapwing see... Show Articles

BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

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