Northern lapwing
Northern lapwing | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Charadriiformes |
Family: | Charadriidae |
Genus: | Vanellus |
Species: | V. vanellus
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Binomial name | |
Vanellus vanellus | |
Global map of sightings reported on eBird Year-Round Range Summer Range Winter Range
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Synonyms[3] | |
The northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus), also known as the peewit or pewit, tuit or tewit, green plover, or (in
Taxonomy
The northern lapwing was
The name lapwing has been variously attributed to the "lapping" sound its wings make in flight, from the irregular progress in flight due to its large wings (the Oxford English Dictionary derives this from an Old English word meaning "to totter"),[8] or from its habit of drawing potential predators away from its nest by trailing a wing as if broken. The names peewit, pewit, tuit or tew-it are onomatopoeic and refer to the bird's characteristic call.[9]
Description
The northern lapwing is a 28–33 cm (11–13 in) long bird with a 67–87 cm (26–34 in) wingspan and a body mass of 128–330 g (4.5–11.6 oz).[10] It has rounded wings and a crest. It is also the shortest-legged of the lapwings. It is mainly black and white, but the back is tinted green. The male has a long crest and a black crown, throat and breast contrasting with an otherwise white face. Females and young birds have shorter crests, and have less strongly marked heads, but plumages are otherwise quite similar.
This is a vocal bird in the breeding season, with constant calling as the crazed tumbling display flight is performed by the male. The typical contact call is a loud, shrill "pee-wit" from which they get their other name of peewit.[8] Displaying males usually make a wheezy "pee-wit, wit wit, eeze wit" during their display flight; these birds also make squeaking or mewing sounds.
Behaviour
It is highly migratory over most of its extensive range, wintering further south as far as North Africa, northern India, Nepal, Bhutan and parts of China. It migrates mainly by day, often in large flocks. Lowland breeders in westernmost areas of Europe are resident. It occasionally is a vagrant to North America, especially after storms, as in the Canadian sightings after storms in December 1927 and in January 1966.[11]
It is a wader that breeds on cultivated land and other short vegetation habitats. 3–4 eggs are laid in a ground scrape. The nest and young are defended noisily and aggressively against all intruders, up to and including horses and cattle.
In winter, it forms huge flocks on open land, particularly arable land and mud-flats.
It feeds primarily on insects and other small invertebrates. This species often feeds in mixed flocks with golden plovers and black-headed gulls, the latter often robbing the two plovers, but providing a degree of protection against predators.
Like the golden plovers, this species prefers to feed at night when there is moonlight.
The northern lapwing is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (
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In some years the species is more sociable and gathers in large flocks after breeding. In the picture, part of a large flock estimated at around 3,000 individuals on September 24, 2017 in Ystad.
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Flying
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Alarmed in flowery meadow on Texel, the Netherlands
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Chick in the Netherlands
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Egg –MHNT
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A large flock flying by
Population decline
National surveys of
In
Cultural significance
Harvesting eggs
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In Ireland
The northern lapwing was declared the
Mythology
The bird referred to in English translations of Ovid's Metamorphoses, book 6, as lapwing[28] is probably the northern lapwing. Tereus is turned into an epops (6.674); Ovid presumably had the hoopoe in mind, whose crest indicates his royal status and whose long, sharp beak is a symbol of his violent nature.
References
- . Retrieved 15 January 2018.
- ^ a b "Vanellus vanellus (Linnaeus, 1758) – Northern Lapwing". Species Inventory. The Natural History Museum. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
- ^ "Vanellus vanellus". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
- ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 148.
- ^ Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés (in French and Latin). Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. Vol. 1, p. 48, Vol. 5, p. 94.
- ^ Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Sandpipers, snipes, coursers". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ a b "Lapwing". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ "Peewit". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
- ^ "Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus". oiseaux-birds.com. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-660-10758-5.
- ^ "Lapwing Vanellus vanellus". Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside. British Trust for Ornithology. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
- ^ "Lapwings thrive on fallow plots". BTO News (269): 17. March–April 2007.
- .
- ^ "Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus in Armenia". Armenian Bird Census, TSE NGO.
- ^ "WorldWaders". 3 May 2013.
- Wikidata Q108533626
- ^ Cox, Rosamund Kidman, ed. (2014). Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Firefly Books.
- ^ Walinga, Ruurd (17 March 2005). "Dertig jaar juridische strijd om kievitseieren" [Thirty year legal battle for plover's eggs] (in Dutch). Friesch Dagblad. Retrieved 19 February 2009.
- ^ Stichting De Faunabescherming and Nederlandse Vereniging tot bescherming van Vogels vs. het college van gedeputeerde staten van Fryslân, [ECLI:NL:RBLEE:2005:AT0660 03/518 BESLU & 03/547 BESLU] (Rechtbank Leeuwarden 16 March 2005).
- ^ "Eerste kievitsei van 2008 gevonden" [First plover egg of 2008 found] (in Dutch). Nederlandse Omroep Stichting. 3 March 2008. Archived from the original on 10 March 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2009.
- ^ "Dutch spring heralded by lapwing egg". Radio Netherlands / Equi Parvi. 8 March 2009. Retrieved 9 March 2009.
- ^ "Vinddatum eerste kievitsei in Friesland" [Dates of Discovery of the First Plover's Eggs in Friesland] (in Dutch). Compendium voor de Leefomgeving. 11 March 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2009.
- ^ Reilly, Jerome (23 October 2016). "Lapwing's tricolour feathers fit the bill". Irish Independent. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
- ^ "National Bird of Ireland – Northern Lapwing – Light Future Art".
- ISBN 9780244110734– via Google Books.
- ^ Fitzgerald, Ann (25 March 2017). "Opinion: Connecting with nature a sure-fire way to bolster your wellbeing". Farming Independent. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
- ^ Garth, Sir Samuel; Dryden, John; et al. "'Metamorphoses' by Ovid".
External links
- LIFE Waders For Real - Lapwing recovery project, Avon Valley, Hampshire/Dorset
- RSPB Birds by Name – Lapwing
- Lapwing photos at ebepe.com
- Ageing and sexing (PDF; 5.7 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze
- "Northern lapwing media". Internet Bird Collection.
- Lapwing Hatchlings video from Gallery of Living Nature
- Vanellus vanellus in Field Guide: Birds of the World on Flickr
- BirdLife species factsheet for Vanellus vanellus
- "Vanellus vanellus". Avibase.
- Northern lapwing photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
- Audio recordings of Northern lapwing on Xeno-canto.