Habitat
In breeding season short-sward grassland on highland plateau and mountain slopes, open plains, dry savanna, and burnt fields with newly grown grass. In non-breeding season on wastelands, cultivated and fallow fields, meadows, airfields, coastal flats and golf-courses.
Black-winged Lapwing (Vanellus melanopterus) [XC583521]
by Alan Collett from Nanja dam,Monduli, Arusha Region, Tanzania (flight call)
Black-winged Lapwing (Vanellus melanopterus) [XC267434]
by Peter Boesman from Dinsho wetlands, Ethiopia (call)
Nest
A scrape in recently burnt short-sward grassland or on bare or newly ploughed land.
Subspecies
Has been proposed to form superspecies with Senegal Lapwing (Vanellus lugubris), but this is not supported by behavioural or morphological data.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
melanopterus (Cretzschmar, 1829) - Extreme eastern Sudan and Ethiopia; south-western Kenya to central-northern Tanzania.
minor (Zedlitz, 1908) - North-eastern Transvaal to eastern Cape Province (South Africa). Winters on coast, from extreme southern Mozambique to eastern Cape.