White-crowned lapwing

White-crowned lapwing
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Charadriidae
Genus: Vanellus
Species: V. albiceps
Binomial name
Vanellus albiceps
Gould, 1834
Synonyms

Hoplopterus albiceps (Gould, 1834)
Vanellus albicep (lapsus)
Xiphidiopterus albiceps (Gould, 1834)

The white-crowned lapwing, white-headed lapwing, white-headed plover or white-crowned plover (Vanellus albiceps) is a medium-sized wader. It is resident throughout tropical Africa, usually near large rivers.

Description

Upper body showing facial wattles

This lapwing is unmistakable. Its wings and tail are strikingly patterned in black and white, the back is brown and the underparts white. The head is particularly striking, being mainly grey, but with a white crown and foreneck. The eyering, facial wattles and legs are yellow. Females, males and young birds are similar in plumage.

Behaviour

It is a wader which breeds on exposed sand or shingle near rivers. 2–3 eggs are laid in a ground scrape. The nest and young are defended noisily and aggressively against all intruders, up to and including the hippopotamus.

Food is mainly insects and other small invertebrates. This species often feeds in small flocks when not breeding.

Status

The white-crowned lapwing is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vanellus albiceps.

References

Shorebirds by Hayman, Marchant and Prater ISBN 0-7099-2034-2

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, July 02, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.