Alternative names: Wattled Lapwing; Senegal Wattled Plover; Wattled Plover
- Vanellus senegallus
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.
Distribution
Sub-Saharan Africa.
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
- V. s. lateralis
- Southern Congo and Angola to Mozambique and north-eastern South Africa
Habitat
Marshes, ponds, rivers and streams, short grassland, savanna, croplands, cultivated pastures and burnt grassland.
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.
References
- Clements JF. 2007. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2008. Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801445019
- 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
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
