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The traditional terms "plover", "lapwing", and "dotterel" do not correspond exactly to current taxonomic models; thus, several of the Vanellinae are often called plovers, and one a dotterel, while a few of the "true" plovers (subfamily Charadriinae) are known colloquially as lapwings. In general, a lapwing can be thought of as a larger plover.
The food of the spur-winged lapwing is insects and other invertebrates, which are picked from the ground. It lays four blotchy yellowish eggs on a ground scrape. The spur-winged lapwing is known to sometimes use the wing-claws in an attack on animals and, rarely, people, who get too close to the birds' exposed offspring.
Grey-headed lapwing: Vanellus cinereus (Blyth, 1842) 35 Red-wattled lapwing: Vanellus indicus (Boddaert, 1783) 36 Javan lapwing: Vanellus macropterus (Wagler, 1827) 37 Banded lapwing: Vanellus tricolor (Vieillot, 1818) 38 Masked lapwing: Vanellus miles (Boddaert, 1783) 39 Sociable lapwing: Vanellus gregarius (Pallas, 1771) 40 White-tailed lapwing
The trend in recent years has been to rationalise the common names of the Charadriidae. For example, the large and very common Australian bird traditionally known as the 'spur-winged plover', is now the masked lapwing to avoid conflict with another bird with the same name; and the former 'sociable plover' is now the sociable lapwing.
The entirely extinct prehistoric species V. downsi is closely related to the southern lapwing found in California; its remains have been found at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. Separated by the Rocky Mountains, V. downsi makes an unlikely ancestor to the southern lapwing, but it is certainly possible that it was a northwestern sister ...
The masked lapwing (also known as the spur-winged plover) has carpal spurs. Nesting pairs defend their territory against all intruders by calling loudly, spreading their wings, and then swooping fast and low, and where necessary, striking at interlopers with their feet and attacking animals on the ground with the conspicuous yellow spurs.
The nictitating membrane of a masked lapwing as it closes over the left eye, originating from the medial canthus. The nictitating membrane (from Latin nictare, to blink) is a transparent or translucent third eyelid present in some animals that can be drawn across the eye from the medial canthus to protect and moisten it while maintaining vision.
Northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) mating pair and nest, 18th or 19th century illustration from the Netherlands. Plover eggs were a form of eggs as food, and a seasonal delicacy of western Europe. [1]