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A photo of a White-tailed Lapwing (Vanellus leucurus)
White-tailed Lapwing

White-tailed Lapwing

Vanellus leucurus

The white-tailed lapwing or white-tailed plover (Vanellus leucurus) is a wader in the lapwing genus. The genus name Vanellus is Medieval Latin for a lapwing and derives from vannus a winnowing fan. The specific leucurus is from Ancient Greek leukouros, "white-tailed". This medium-sized lapwing is long-legged and fairly long-billed. It is the only lapwing likely to be seen in other than very shallow water, where it picks insects and other small prey mainly from the surface. Adults are slim erect birds with a brown back and foreneck, paler face and grey breast. Its long yellow legs, pure white tail and distinctive brown, white and black wings make this species unmistakable. Young birds have a scaly back, and may show some brown in the tail. The breeding season call is a peewit, similar to northern lapwing. It breeds semi-colonially on inland marshes in Iraq, Iran and southern Russia. Four eggs are laid in a ground nest. The Iraqi and Iranian breeders are mainly residents, but Russian birds migrate south in winter to the Indian Subcontinent, the Middle East and north east Africa. In some parts of its distribution range the species faces threats related to habitat destruction and unintentional poaching.
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White-tailed Lapwings on Birda

Photos

Sightings

A map showing the sighting location
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Hemant Kirola
Saturday 18 Feb 2023 - 8:00am
India
A map showing the sighting location
🦢
Hemant Kirola
Sunday 25 Dec 2022 - 8:30am
India
A map showing the sighting location
🦢
Hemant Kirola
Sunday 18 Dec 2022 - 7:47am
India
A map showing the sighting location
🦉
Jiwateshwar Singh
Monday 24 Oct 2022 - 7:22am
India
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