| Southern lapwing | |
|---|---|
.JPG) | |
_2.JPG) | |
| bothV. c. lampronotus ThePantanal,Brazil | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Charadriidae |
| Genus: | Vanellus |
| Species: | V. chilensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Vanellus chilensis (Molina, 1782) | |
| Subspecies | |
3-4 (see text) | |
 | |
| Synonyms | |
Parra chilensisMolina, 1782 | |
Thesouthern lapwing (Vanellus chilensis), commonly calledquero-quero in Brazil, ortero in Argentina and Uruguay,tero-tero in Paraguay, andqueltehue in Chile is awader in the orderCharadriiformes. It is a common and widespread resident throughoutSouth America, except in densely forested regions (e.g. most of theAmazon), the higher parts of theAndes, and the arid coast of a large part of western South America. This bird is particularly common in thebasin of the Río de la Plata. It has also been spreading throughCentral America in recent years. It reachedTrinidad in 1961,Tobago in 1974, and has rapidly increased on both islands, sporadically making its way North to Barbados where one pair mated, nested, and produced chicks in 2007. There have been sightings reported inNorth America with a verified sighting of a bird inTexas posted onBirda on the 17th April 2024.[3]
Thislapwing is the only crested wader in South America. It is 32 to 38 cm (13 to 15 in) in length and weighs approximately 250 to 425 g (8.8 to 15.0 oz). The upperparts are mainly brownish grey, with a bronze glossing on the shoulders. The head is particularly striking; mainly grey with a black forehead and throat patch extending onto the black breast. A white border separates the black of the face from the grey of the head and crest. The rest of the underparts are white and the eye ring, legs, and most of the bill are pink. It is equipped with red bony extensions under the wings (spurs), used to intimidate foes and fight birds of prey.
During its slow flapping flight, the southern lapwing shows a broad white wing bar separating the grey-brown of the back and wing coverts from the black flight feathers. The rump is white and the tail black. The call is a very loud and harshkeek-keek-keek.
There are three or foursubspecies, differing slightly in head coloration and voice.Vanellus chilensis fretensis fromPatagonia is sometimes included in thenominate subspeciesV. c. chilensis. The northern subspecies—V. c. cayennensis from the north andV. c. lampronotus from the south of theAmazon River—are sometimes separated as a distinct species,Vanellus cayennensis. These two subspecies have a browner head—particularly the northernmost birds—and the white face band (broad in the northern and narrow in the southern one) does not reach to the center of the crown. However, birds from the general region of Uruguay apparentlyintergrade.
Inprehistoric times, the species seems to have been more widespread.Late Pleistocene lapwing bones fromFlorida were initially described asDorypaltus prosphatus but have since been regarded as indistinguishable from those of the southern lapwing of the time, except by being smaller. Though they may not be specifically distinct, the lack of this bird's occurrence out of South America on a regular basis today suggests that they may be better considered apaleosubspeciesV. c. prosphatus. This would have disappeared as thelast ice age ended, butbiogeography suggests that the species must also have occurred inCentral America and/or theCaribbean. The entirelyextinct prehistoric speciesV. downsi is closely related to the southern lapwing found inCalifornia; its remains have been found at theLa Brea Tar Pits inLos Angeles. Separated by theRocky Mountains,V. downsi makes an unlikely ancestor to the southern lapwing, but it is certainly possible that it was a northwesternsister species.[4]
This is alapwing of lake and river banks or open grassland. It has benefited from the extension of the latter habitat through widespread cattle ranching. When nesting in the vicinity of airports, it poses a threat to the safety of aerial traffic.[5] Its food is mainlyinsects (such asgrasshoppers)[6] and other smallinvertebrates (includingearthworms andcutworms), as well as smallfish,[6] hunted using a run-and-wait technique mainly at night, often in flocks. In urban areas likeRio de Janeiro,Montevideo, andLa Plata it can even be seen feeding on floodlit soccer pitches during televised matches.
The southern lapwing breeds cooperatively in social groups and that social group consists of a breeding pair with one or two young from the previous breeding season.[7] They breed on grassland and sometimes on ploughed fields, and have an aerobatic flapping display flight. It lays 2–3 (rarely 4) olive-brown eggs in a bare ground scape. The nest and young are defended noisily and aggressively against all intruders (including humans) by means of threats, vocalizations, and low flights. After the breeding season, it disperses into wetlands and seasonally-flooded tropical grassland.
_in_flight.jpg)
.jpg)
Genera ofshorebirds and their extinct allies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
_svg-element.svg)
