Vanellus crassirostris
Silhouette: Rebecca Groom · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The long-toed lapwing (Vanellus crassirostris), also known as the long-toed plover, is a species of wading bird in the lapwing subfamily, within the family Charadriidae. It is mainly sedentary and found across central and eastern Africa, from Chad and South Sudan in the north to Mozambique in the southeast of its range. It is one of 13 species of ground-nesting lapwings found in Africa.
The long-toed lapwing was formally described by Gustav Hartlaub in 1855 under the binomial name Chettusia crassirostris in the Journal für Ornithologie. The species is now one of 24 placed with the other lapwings in the genus Vanellus which was described in 1760 by Mathurin Jacques Brisson, a French zoologist. Vanellus comes from the Medieval Latin 'vannus', meaning winnowing fan, a reference to the sound of the wings of lapwings in flight. The species name crassirostris means thick-billed.
The long-toed lapwing was formerly placed within the monospecific genus Hemiparra, but now resides in the genus Vanellus with other lapwings. Vanellus is one of 10 genera of the family Charadriidae, which aside from the lapwings also contains plovers and dotterels. Members of Charadriidae generally... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 3 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 4 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 5 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 6 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 7 | Akagera National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 8 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 9 | Lake Nakuru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 10 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 11 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
| 12 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 13 | Lower Zambezi National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 14 | Lake Mburo National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 15 | Mana Pools National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 16 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 17 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 18 | Gorongosa National Park | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 19 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 20 | Arusha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 21 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego Zoo Safari Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Berlin Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Wilhelma | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 4 | Aquarium Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Long-toed Lapwing sighting in Moremi Game Reserve on a given day, based on 614 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 30th most-seen of the 334 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Long-toed Lapwing in Moremi Game Reserve on a given day, against about 30% in April and July, the lowest months. That is one of Moremi Game Reserve's wettest months, with about 85 mm of rain against almost none in May.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Long-toed 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.
2nd of 21
Of the 21 parks where we can rate Long-toed Lapwing sightings, Moremi Game Reserve ranks 2nd at about 40%. The best odds are in Amboseli National Park (Kenya, about 60%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Vanellus
The closest relatives of the Long-toed Lapwing that you can see in Moremi Game Reserve (genus Vanellus, Lapwings) are Blacksmith Lapwing (about 80%) and Crowned Lapwing (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Long-toed Lapwing is recorded against all the birds logged in Moremi Game Reserve (614 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.
