From Opus

Photo byGashead
Dubai, UAE, February 2005

Vanellus gregarius

[edit] Identification

27-30 cm

• Grey
• Black and chestnut belly
• White supercilium
• Black crown and eye-stripe
  

Winter adult brown, though retains supercilium and crown pattern
Juvenile: brown, slightly scalloped upperparts. Streaked black below with large white supercilium.

Photo by lior kislev
Beyt Shean Valley, Israel, October 2008

[edit] Similar Species

The White-tailed Lapwing has no supercilium or crown patch; has longer legs and lacks black subterminal tail-band.

[edit] Distribution

Breeds in Russia and Kazakhstan, migrating through Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey, to winter in Israel, Syria, Eritrea, Sudan and north-west India.

Occasionally found wintering in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Oman.

[edit] Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].

[edit] Habitat

Steppes where bare saline areas occur near water-bodies.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

Their diet includes insects and other small prey which it picks mainly from grassland or arable.

[edit] Breeding

Three to five eggs are laid in a ground nest.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. BirdLife International
3. Wikipedia

• List of references

[edit] External Links