Vanellus leucurus
Silhouette: Rebecca Groom · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
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, which refers to 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, Kuwait, 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. It is a very rare vagrant in western Europe, the first example in Britain being found at Packington, Warwickshire on 12 July 1975.
In some parts of its distribution range the species faces threats related to habitat destruction and unintentional poaching. The white-tailed lapwing is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a White-tailed Lapwing sighting in New Delhi on a given day, based on 57 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 153rd 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.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a White-tailed Lapwing in New Delhi on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-tailed Lapwing sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 2 cities where we can rate White-tailed Lapwing sightings, New Delhi ranks 2nd at under 5%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Dubai (United Arab Emirates, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-tailed Lapwing is recorded against all the birds logged in New Delhi (57 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.
