Red-Wattled Lapwing | Vanellus indicus

Voice

Loud and persistent, by day and by night. The alarm is a sharply enunciated ti-ti-tu-eet, rendered in English as did-he-do-it; as the bird gets more agitated the series accelerates and rises into a piercing rattle. It calls in flight and at the roost as well. On the breeding grounds it gives the alarm at every passing heron, dog or birder.

Identification

Bulky, about the length of a Northern Lapwing but longer-legged and longer-necked. Crown, face, throat and breast are black, and from the cheek a broad white band runs down the side of the neck to the white belly. The upperparts are light brown with a purple and green gloss. The red fleshy wattle in front of the eye, the red black-tipped bill and the long yellow legs are unmistakable. In flight the upperwing shows a broad white band across the coverts between brown and black, with a white rump and a black tail band. Juveniles are duller, with a brownish-black hood, a smaller wattle and pale fringes above.

Confusion species

Spur-Winged Lapwing, which shares parts of Anatolia with it, has no wattle, a clean white cheek and throat, black legs and a black belly stripe, where Red-Wattled has a black throat, yellow legs and the red wattle. Northern Lapwing is shorter-legged, crested and shows no red on the face. At range the neck pattern decides it: on Red-Wattled the white runs as a narrow wedge down a black neck. On any suspected vagrant, look hard at feather condition and at the legs, because a worn plumage, a ring or a conspicuously tame bird points elsewhere.

Habitat

Open wet farmland: irrigated fields, river and canal banks, the drying margins of reservoirs and fish ponds, gravel bars and damp meadows. It avoids tall cover and wants bare, level ground with water within reach, and it will use village edges and waste ground around buildings.

Range and movements

Breeds from Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf east to South-East Asia; the western race reaches south-east Anatolia along the Euphrates and Tigris and is slowly expanding there. Further west in Europe there are only a handful of records, scattered across countries and decades. A proportion of these is contested: the species is held in European collections, and a number of sightings go back to escaped birds, so committees place some records in category E or leave them unassessed.

• Breeding (summer)
• dark = core range, pale = thinly spread

How and when to look

For a bird beyond argument, go to south-east Anatolia: the Euphrates valley around Birecik and Halfeti between April and September, where the species works gravel bars and irrigated land. Search bare banks early in the morning and listen, because it calls almost continuously. If a candidate turns up further west, note plumage condition, any rings and the bird's behaviour carefully, since that is what decides whether the record stands.

Conservation status

Least Concern globally and common to abundant across South Asia, including in towns. In the west of the range, in Mesopotamia, it is declining with marsh drainage and the loss of traditional irrigation. The Anatolian population is small but appears stable or increasing, with dam building on the Euphrates the main uncertainty.

Scientific name

Vanellus indicus | (Boddaert, 1783)

Boddaert described the species in 1783 as Tringa indica; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Vanellus was introduced in 1760 by Brisson. Vanellus is Latin for 'little fan', the diminutive of vannus 'winnowing fan'. indicus is Latin for 'Indian', after the Indian part of its range. The specimen the first description was based on came from Goa, India.