Vanellus indicus
Silhouette: Rebecca Groom · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
The red-wattled lapwing (Vanellus indicus) is an Asian lapwing or large plover, a wader in the family Charadriidae. Like other lapwings they are ground birds that are incapable of perching. Their characteristic loud alarm calls are indicators of human or animal movements and the sounds have been variously rendered as did he do it or pity to do it leading to the colloquial name of did-he-do-it bird. Usually seen in pairs or small groups not far from water, they sometimes form large aggregations in the non-breeding season (winter). They nest in a ground scrape laying three to four camouflaged eggs. Adults near the nest fly around, diving at potential predators while calling noisily. The cryptically patterned chicks hatch and immediately follow their parents to feed, hiding by lying low on the ground or in the grass when threatened.
Traditionally well known to native hunters, the red-wattled lapwing was first described in a book by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux in 1781. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle... Wikipedia →
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walsrode World Bird Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 2 | Al Ain Zoo | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | |
| 3 | Sakkarbaug Zoological Garden | 🇮🇳 India |
Very likely
About 70% of wildlife watchers report a Red-wattled Lapwing sighting in Udawalawe National Park on a given day, based on 407 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 7th most-seen of the 166 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February, June–July and September
In those months about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Red-wattled Lapwing in Udawalawe National Park on a given day, against about 60% in November, the lowest month. Those are among Udawalawe National Park's driest months, with about 75 mm of rain a month against 330 mm in November.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-wattled 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.
5th of 30
Of the 30 parks where we can rate Red-wattled Lapwing sightings, Udawalawe National Park ranks 5th at about 70%. The best odds are in Ranthambore National Park (India, about 80%), Yala National Park (Sri Lanka, about 80%) and Keoladeo National Park (India, about 80%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-wattled Lapwing is recorded against all the birds logged in Udawalawe National Park (407 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.
