Vanellus vanellus
Silhouette: Nina Skinner · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
The northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus), also known as the peewit or pewit, tuit or tewit, green plover, or (in Ireland and Great Britain) pyewipe or just lapwing, is a bird in the lapwing subfamily. It is common through temperate Eurosiberia.
The northern lapwing was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Tringa vanellus. The species is now placed with the other lapwings in the genus Vanellus that was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The scientific name Vanellus is Medieval Latin for the northern lapwing and derives from vannus, a winnowing fan. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
The name lapwing has been variously attributed to the "lapping" sound its wings make in flight, to its irregular flight path due to its large wings (the Oxford English Dictionary derives this from an Old English word meaning "to totter"), or from its habit of drawing potential predators away from its nest by trailing a wing as if it were broken. The names peewit, pewit, tuit or tew-it are onomatopoeic and refer to the bird's characteristic... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hortobágy National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 2 | Kiskunság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 3 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 4 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 5 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 6 | Kaziranga National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 8 | Białowieża National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 9 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 10 | Camargue | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 11 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 12 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 13 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 14 | Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | |
| 15 | Gauja National Park | 🇱🇻 Latvia | |
| 16 | Manas National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 17 | Royal Manas National Park | 🇧🇹 Bhutan | |
| 18 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Helsinki | 🇫🇮 Finland | |
| 3 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 6 | Leeds | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 7 | Rotterdam [The Hague] | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 8 | Saint Petersburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 9 | Novosibirsk | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 10 | Amsterdam | 🇳🇱 Netherlands |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moscow Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 2 | Prague Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 3 | Zoo Pilsen | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 4 | Zoo Hluboka | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 5 | Eekholt Wildlife Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 6 | Tama Zoological Park | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 7 | Luisenpark | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 8 | Budapest Zoo & Botanical Garden | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 9 | Santillana Zoo | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 10 | Rákosův pavilon | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 11 | Velemlokárium | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 12 | akwarium warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 13 | hipopotamiarnia i akwarium morskie warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland |
Very likely
About 80% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Lapwing sighting in Hortobágy National Park on a given day, based on 548 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 6th most-seen of the 202 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 90% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Lapwing in Hortobágy National Park on a given day, against about 60% in December to February, the lowest months.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Northern 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.
Yes
Of the 18 parks where we can rate Northern Lapwing sightings, Hortobágy National Park has the highest daily chance: about 80%. Next come Kiskunság National Park (Hungary, about 70%) and Biebrza National Park (Poland, about 60%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Charadriidae
The closest relatives of the Northern Lapwing that you can see in Hortobágy National Park (family Charadriidae, Plovers and Lapwings) are Black-bellied Plover (about 10%) and Common Ringed Plover (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Northern Lapwing is recorded against all the birds logged in Hortobágy National Park (548 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
