River Lapwing

River Lapwing

Vanellus duvaucelii

Silhouette: Rebecca Groom · PhyloPic

LCNTNear ThreatenedVUENCR
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at New Delhi

In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%

70 Verified sightings at New Delhi
3,471 In all 11 parks From 2019 to 2026
December Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the River Lapwing

The river lapwing (Vanellus duvaucelii) is a lapwing species which breeds from the Indian subcontinent eastwards to Southeast Asia. It range includes much of northern and northeastern India, and extends through Southeast Asia to Vietnam. It appears to be entirely sedentary. Formerly also called spur-winged lapwing, this name is better reserved for one of the "spur-winged plovers" of old, Vanellus spinosus of Africa, whose scientific name it literally translates. The masked lapwing of Australasia was at one time also called "spur-winged plover" (and still is in New Zealand), completing the name confusion.

This species resembles the closely related spur-winged lapwing of Africa, and has sometimes been considered conspecific. The species name commemorates Alfred Duvaucel. The river lapwing is 29–32 cm long. It has a black crest, crown, face and central throat and grey-white neck sides and nape. It has a grey-brown breast band and white underparts with a black belly patch. The back is brown, the rump is white and the tail is black. This is a striking species in flight, with black primaries, white under wings and upper wing secondaries, and brown upper wing coverts.... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call0:18

Thailand · 2025

© Greg Irving · XC973823 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Alarm call0:37

Laos · 2024

© Bram Piot · XC883932 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song0:36

India · 2007

© David Farrow · XC37587 · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Royal Bardia National Park 🇳🇵 Nepal
~50%
2 Chitwan National Park 🇳🇵 Nepal
~50%
3 Jim Corbett National Park 🇮🇳 India
~30%
4 Satpura National Park 🇮🇳 India
~30%
5 Kaziranga National Park 🇮🇳 India
~20%
6 Manas National Park 🇮🇳 India
~20%
7 Namdapha National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
8 Royal Manas National Park 🇧🇹 Bhutan
~10%
9 Bandhavgarh National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
10 Ranthambore National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
11 Kanha National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Agra 🇮🇳 India
~30%
2 Prayagraj 🇮🇳 India
~20%
3 Varanasi 🇮🇳 India
~10%
4 Kathmandu 🇳🇵 Nepal
~10%
5 Lucknow 🇮🇳 India
<5%
6 Bhubaneshwar 🇮🇳 India
<5%
7 New Delhi 🇮🇳 India
<5%
8 Dehradun 🇮🇳 India
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a River Lapwing in New Delhi?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a River Lapwing sighting in New Delhi on a given day, based on 70 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 154th most-seen of the 248 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a River Lapwing in New Delhi?

Any time of year

In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a River Lapwing in New Delhi on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.

What time of day is best to see a River Lapwing?

Between 7 and 10 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most River Lapwing sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is New Delhi the best place to see a River Lapwing?

7th of 8

Of the 8 cities where we can rate River Lapwing sightings, New Delhi ranks 7th at under 5%. The best odds are in Agra (India, about 30%), Prayagraj (India, about 20%) and Varanasi (India, about 10%).

Where does the River Lapwing sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the River Lapwing is recorded against all the birds logged in New Delhi (70 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

← Back to New Delhi