From Opus

Alternative names: Wattled Lapwing; Senegal Wattled Plover; Wattled Plover

Vanellus senegallus

Photo by MikeB.
Photo taken: Angola. Notice the visible wing-spurs.

[edit] Identification

Length 35 cm, mass 160-293 g; the largest African lapwing.

Brown, black crown, white forehead and large yellow facial wattles, upperwings have black flight feathers and brown coverts separated by a white bar, underwings are white with black flight feathers. White tail, tipped black, and the long legs are yellow.

[edit] Distribution

Sub-Saharan Africa.

[edit] Taxonomy

Vanellus senegallus has three subspecies:¹

• V. s. senegallus

• Senegal to southern Sudan, north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and northern Uganda

• V. s. major

• Eritrea and Ethiopia

• V. s. lateralis

• Southern Congo and Angola to Mozambique and north-eastern South Africa

[edit] Habitat

Marshes, ponds, rivers and streams, short grassland, savanna, croplands, cultivated pastures and burnt grassland.

[edit] Behaviour

Usually singly, in pairs, or in small groups; sometimes in larger flocks when not breeding. Forages while walking. The diet includes grasshoppers, locusts, beetles, crickets, termites, aquatic insects, worms, coarse grass leaves and grass seeds.

The nest is a shallow depression in short grass or bare ground, but always near water. Two to four eggs are laid, and incubated for 28-32 days by both sexes. Chicks leave the nest the day of hatching.

[edit] References

1. Clements JF. 2007. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2008. Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801445019
2. Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ & Ryan PG (eds) 2005. Robert's Birds of Southern Africa, 7th edition. John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town, South Africa. ISBN 0620340533

[edit] External Links