Vanellus spinosus
Silhouette: Rebecca Groom · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The spur-winged lapwing or spur-winged plover (Vanellus spinosus) is a lapwing species, one of a group of largish waders in the family Charadriidae. The spur-winged lapwing was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the plovers in the genus Charadrius and coined the binomial name Charadrius spinosus. He specified the type locality as Egypt. The specific epithet is from Latin meaning "thorny" (from spina meaning "thorn"). Linnaeus based his account on a description by the Swedish naturalist Fredrik Hasselquist that had been published in 1757. The spur-winged lapwing is now one of 23 species placed in the genus Vanellus that was introduced in 1760 by the French naturalist Mathurin Jacques Brisson. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
The spur-winged lapwing is a medium-large wader with a black crown, chest, foreneck stripe and tail. The face, the rest of the neck and belly are white and the wings and back are light brown. The bill and legs are black. It has a loud did-he-do-it call. The bird's common name refers to a small claw or spur hidden in... Wikipedia →
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denver Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Paris Zoological Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Réserve africaine de Sigean | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Parc des oiseaux | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | Aquarium du palais de la Porte Dorée | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | San Diego Zoo Safari Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Minnesota Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Living Desert Zoo and Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Bronx Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Kansas City Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | The Maryland Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Toledo Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 13 | Detroit Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 15 | Woodland Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 16 | Calgary Zoo | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 17 | Fort Worth Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 18 | Oregon Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 19 | Houston Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 20 | San Antonio Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 21 | Hogle Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 22 | Ueno Zoo | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 23 | Sacramento Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 24 | Bird Park Steinen | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 25 | Santillana Zoo | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 26 | Central Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 27 | Downtown Aquarium, Denver | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 28 | Sobela Ocean Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 29 | Bird Kingdom | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 30 | Seattle Marine Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Spur-winged Lapwing sighting in Meru National Park on a given day, based on 42 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 62nd most-seen of the 243 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Spur-winged Lapwing in Meru National Park on a given day, against about 10% in April and November, the lowest months. That is one of Meru National Park's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain against 200 mm in November. May and July–August have too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Spur-winged Lapwing sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
16th of 26
Of the 26 parks where we can rate Spur-winged Lapwing sightings, Meru National Park ranks 16th at about 30%. The best odds are in Niokolo-Koba National Park (Senegal, about 60%), Liwonde National Park (Malawi, about 60%) and Nairobi National Park (Kenya, about 60%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Vanellus
The closest relatives of the Spur-winged Lapwing that you can see in Meru National Park (genus Vanellus, Lapwings) are Crowned Lapwing (about 40%) and Black-headed Lapwing (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Spur-winged Lapwing is recorded against all the birds logged in Meru National Park (42 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.
