Vanellus tectus
Silhouette: Rebecca Groom · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The black-headed lapwing or black-headed plover (Vanellus tectus) is a large lapwing, a group of largish waders in the family Charadriidae. It is a resident breeder across sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal to Ethiopia, although it has seasonal movements. It lays two or three eggs on a ground scrape.
These are conspicuous and unmistakable birds. They are medium-large waders with a black head other than a white forehead, lower face and bands across the rear head and nape. There is a wispy black crest like northern lapwing and the bill and legs are red. The tail is white, tipped black.
In flight, the black-headed lapwing's upperwings have black flight feathers and brown coverts separated by a white bar. The underwings are white with black flight feathers. This species is a common breeder in wet lowland habitats close to water. It often feeds in drier habitats, such as golf courses and grassy scrub, picking insects and other invertebrates from the ground.
The black-headed lapwing has a metallic tink-tink call. The black-headed lapwing was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1781 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tsavo East National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 3 | Meru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 4 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 5 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 6 | Niokolo-Koba National Park | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 7 | Awash National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 8 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zoo Pilsen | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 2 | Berlin Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Aquarium Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-headed Lapwing sighting in Tsavo West National Park on a given day, based on 98 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 153rd most-seen of the 380 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July, October and December–January
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Black-headed Lapwing in Tsavo West National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August and September, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-headed 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.
5th of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Black-headed Lapwing sightings, Tsavo West National Park ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Tsavo East National Park (Kenya, about 40%), Murchison Falls National Park (Uganda, about 20%) and Meru National Park (Kenya, about 20%).
Same genus: Vanellus
The closest relatives of the Black-headed Lapwing that you can see in Tsavo West National Park (genus Vanellus, Lapwings) are Crowned Lapwing (about 20%), Blacksmith Lapwing (about 20%) and Spur-winged Lapwing (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-headed Lapwing is recorded against all the birds logged in Tsavo West National Park (98 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.
