Black-winged lapwing
Black-winged lapwing | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Charadriiformes |
Family: | Charadriidae |
Genus: | Vanellus |
Species: | V. melanopterus
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Binomial name | |
Vanellus melanopterus (Cretzschmar, 1829)
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Synonyms | |
Charadrius melanopterus Cretzschmar, 1829 |
The black-winged lapwing or greater black-winged lapwing (Vanellus melanopterus) is an east
Description
A black breast band separates the lapwing's grey head and neck from the white underside. The wing coverts are brown. It has a variable but prominent white forehead patch similar to its near relative, the Senegal lapwing, but in contrast shows a prominent white wingbar in flight, bordered by black remiges. The two species are also separated by their respective habitat preferences, the Senegal lapwing preferring lower, mostly drier locations.
Habits and breeding
The black-winged lapwing behaves somewhat like the similar-sized but more generally occurring crowned lapwing and the two species sometimes occur in mixed flocks.
The leg colour brightens during the spring breeding season, when the birds sometimes move to higher elevations. Males show mutual aggression at this time and establish territories by calling and display flights which may include exaggerated wing beats. A receptive female will follow the male in flight and copulation may follow soon after. The top of a slope in burnt grassland is a favourite location for nesting.
The eggs are fairly large and dark in colour. Incubation starts when the clutch of usually 3 is complete. The adults relay one another in shifts of about 90 minutes. Insulating nest lining is added periodically to the well-lined nest until the eggs are half buried. The young hatch in just under a month and require about another month to become self-sufficient.
Food and territories
Black-winged lapwings hunt
Conservation status
Human activities impact both positively and negatively on this species; it is not
References
- . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- BirdLife International (2016). "Vanellus melanopterus". . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- Hockey P.A.R., Douie C. 1995. Waders of southern Africa
- Marchant J., Prater T., Hayman P. 1986. Shorebirds: An identification guide
- Sinclair I., Ryan P. 2003. Birds of Africa south of the Sahara
- Tarboton W. 2001. Nests & Eggs of Southern African Birds
- Ward, D. Black-winged Plover. In: The atlas of southern African birds. Vol. 1: Non-passerines
External links
- Black-winged plover - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds.