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Southern LapwingThe Southern Lapwing Vanellus chilensis is a large wader. It is a common and widespread resident throughout South America, other than in the jungles of the Amazon and the Andes. This is a lapwing of open grassland which has benefited from the extension of this habitat through cattle ranching. It was first recorded on Trinidad in 1961 and Tobago in 1974, and has rapidly increased in both islands. Southern Lapwing breeds on grassland and sometimes ploughed fields, and has an aerobatic flapping display flight. It lays 2-3 olive brown eggs in a bare ground scrape. The nest and young are defended noisily and aggressively against all intruders. When not breeding, this bird extends into wetlands and seasonally flooded tropical grassland. This lapwing is the only crested wader in South America. It is 31-33cm in length and weighs 295g. The upperparts are mainly brownish grey, with bronze glossing on the shoulders. The head is particularly striking, being mainly grey, but 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 eyering, legs and most of the bill are pink. In its slow flapping flight, 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 sexes are similar in plumage, but young birds are duller, with a shorter crest and browner face and breast. There are four geographical races of Southern Lapwing, differing mainly in the details of the black and white face pattern. The call of this lapwing is a very loud harsh keek-keek-keek. Its food is mainly insects and other small invertebrates, hunted by a run-and-wait technique, mainly at night. This gregarious species often feeds in flocks. References - Shorebirds by Hayman, Marchant and Prater ISBN 0-7099-2034-2
- Birds of Venezuela by Hilty, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
- Birds of Trinidad and Tobago by ffrench, ISBN 0-7136-6759-1
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