Red-wattled Lapwing - BirdForum Opus

Nominate subspecies : Pair in breeding plumage
Photo © by Alok Tewari
Gurgaon Rural, Haryana, India, Jan-2017

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

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

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

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.

Recording by Alok Tewari
Keoladeo National Park, India, April-2015
Panic / frantic calls by a group of birds.
In the file below can be heard the mating call followed by usual communicating calls:

Recording by Alok Tewari
Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, India, June-2017

References

Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved August 2016)
Wikipedia
BF Member observations

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Red-wattled Lapwing. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 16 January 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Red-wattled_Lapwing

Gallery

Click images to see larger version

External Links

Search for photos of Red-wattled Lapwing in the gallery

Search for videos of Red-wattled Lapwing in the gallery

GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1