Birding/ Bird watching in Africa - Spur-winged Lapwing or Spur-winged Plover

Spur-winged Lapwing or Spur-winged Plover, Vanellus spinosus

For the Australasian species sometimes known as Spur-winged Plover, see Masked Lapwing .

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.

It is one of several species of wader supposed to be the “trochilus” bird said by Herodotus to have been involved in an unattested cleaning symbiosis with the Nile crocodile.

Distribution
The Spur-winged Lapwing breeds around the eastern Mediterranean, and in a wide band from sub-Saharan west Africa to Arabia. The Greek and Turkish breeders are migratory, but other populations are resident. The species is declining in its northern range, but is abundant in much of tropical Africa, being seen at almost any wetland habitat in its range. The Spur-winged Lapwing is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

AEWA

The Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, or African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) is an independent international treaty developed under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme's Convention on Migratory Species.

It was founded to coordinate efforts to conserve bird species migrating between European and African nations, and its current scope stretches from the Arctic to South Africa, encompassing the Canadian archipelago and the Middle East as well as Europe and Africa.

The agreement focuses on bird species that depend on wetlands for at least part of their lifecycle and cross international borders in their migration patterns. It currently covers 254 species.

Treaties

Ban on lead shot
The use of lead shot over wetlands has been banned by the signatories to the convention on account of the poisoning it causes.

Range map from www.oiseaux.net - Ornithological Portal Oiseaux.net

www.oiseaux.net is one of those MUST visit pages if you're in to bird watching. You can find just about everything there

Description
These are conspicuous and unmistakable birds. They are medium-large waders with 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. Its striking appearance is supplemented by its noisy nature, with a loud did-he-do-it call. The bird's common name refers to a small claw or spur hidden in each of its wings.

Listen to the Spur-winged Lapwing

Sound from www.xeno-canto.org

Remarks from the Recordist

Calls of adult with pull. nearby, rather general excitement calls, but not alarm calls in real danger situation

Ecology and behaviour
This species has a preference for marshes and similar freshwater wetland habitats. The food of the Spur-winged Lapwing is insects and other invertebrates, which are picked from the ground.

It lays two 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.

Supposed cleaning symbiosis
The “spur-winged plover” was identified by Henry Scherren as the “trochilus” bird said by the Greek historian Herodotus to be involved in what would now be called a cleaning symbiosis with the Nile crocodile. However, there is no reliable evidence that this or any other species in fact has such a relationship.

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2.
International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.

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