Red-wattled Lapwing - BirdForum Opus

Nominate subspecies
Photo by Yeshey Dorji
Toorsa, Phuentsholing, Bhutan, June, 2005

Vanellus indicus

Identification

Self-foraging nidifugous chick Ssp. V. i. indicus
Photo by Alok Tewari
Distt. Gurgaon, Haryana, India, June 2014

32–35 cm (12½-13¾ in)

• Light brown wings and back
• Black head and chest and front part of neck
• White patch runs between belly and tail, flanking the neck to the sides of crown
• Short tail is tipped black
• A red fleshy wattle in front of each eye
• Black-tipped red bill
• Long yellow legs
• In flight, prominent white V-shaped wing bar

Distribution

From south-eastern Turkey to Iraq, south-western Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal and east to Burma, Thailand, Indochina and Malaysia.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Subspecies V. i. atronuchalis
Photo by kctsang
Melacca, Western Malaysia, March 2006

Four subspecies are recognized:^[1]

• V.i. aigneri:

• South-east Turkey to Pakistan

• V.i. indicus:

• East Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh

• V.i. lankae:

• Sri Lanka

• V.i. atronuchalis:

• North-east India and Myanmar to northern Malaysia and Indochina

Habitat

Open country and forest clearings, freshwater wetlands. Dry fields, bush country, near swamps, rivers and coasts.

Behaviour

Breeding

Nominate subspecies juvenile
Photo by S K Gudi
Hubli, India, July 2016

Its nest is a ground scrape; the clutch consisting of 3-4 buff eggs with black blotches.

Diet

Their diet consists mostly of insects and larvae such as ants, beetles, caterpillars, insects, snails and other invertebrates, as well as some vegetation.

Vocalisation

A very noisy bird.
Call: What ya doin. When excited: What are you doin and when they get really stressed it sounds more like What ya think ya doin.
<flashmp3>red_wattled_lapwing_call.mp3</flashmp3>
Listen in an external program
Recording by Alok Tewari
Keoladeo National Park, India, April-2015
Panic / frantic calls by a group of birds.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved August 2016)
3. Wikipedia
4. BF Member observations

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Red-wattled Lapwing. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 7 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Red-wattled_Lapwing

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