Yellow-wattled Lapwing Vanellus malabaricus Scientific name definitions

24–28 cm; 108–203 g (three specimens); wingspan 65–69 cm. Lapwing with yellow wattles and legs ; cap black, bordered below by narrow white line; chin and throat blackish , breast and upperparts brown, belly white; white wingbar and rump, black flight-feathers (much like V. indicus in flight, but upperparts paler and rump patch narrower) (1 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ); black bill with yellowish base ; tiny yellow carpal spurs. When bird excited, black cap can be raised. Sexes alike. Non-breeding adult has all of black areas mottled with brown . Juvenile has brown crown , small pale wattles; dark subterminal bars and buff fringes on back feathers; chin and throat white. First-year plumage appears less scaled on upperparts and has larger wattle (1 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ). Clinal decrease in size from N to S.

Formerly placed in monospecific genus Lobipluvia; occasionally included in Hoplopterus. Original spelling has frequently been quoted as “malarbaricus”, but this is now seen to be merely an Incorrect Subsequent Spelling (see above, OD box). Monotypic.

S Pakistan (Sind), and India from Gujarat and Himachal E to Bihar and S through peninsula to Sri Lanka; non-breeding visitor to S Nepal (has bred), West Bengal and Bangladesh.

Dry and open habitats, including cultivated and fallow fields and wasteland; also at edges of wetlands, e.g. jheels, but not necessarily close to water and is usually found in drier areas than V. indicus, although the two species do overlap (2 Hayman, P., J. Marchant, and T. Prater (1986). Shorebirds. An Identification Guide to the Waders of the World. Croom Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Mainly sedentary; local movements to drier areas during monsoon, with short-range movements also suspected in Sri Lanka, but not necessarily governed by monsoon (3 Dissanayake, D. S. B., S. M. Wellappuliarachi, J. A. H. U. Jayakody, S. K. Bandara, S. J. Gamagae, D. A. C. I. Deerasingha, and S. Wickramasingha (2014). The avifaunal diversity of Sigiriya Sanctuary and adjacent areas, North Central province, Sri Lanka. BirdingASIA 21:86–93. Close ). In lower Sind, Pakistan, and E Himachal Pradesh, India (1 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ), present only or mainly in summer, when breeds; arrives late Feb–Mar and departs probably Aug–Sept, although sometimes lingers well into Jan in S Pakistan. Non-breeding visitor to S Nepal (including Kathmandu Valley) (2 Hayman, P., J. Marchant, and T. Prater (1986). Shorebirds. An Identification Guide to the Waders of the World. Croom Helm, London, UK. Close ), in which country has bred, as well as to NW Bengal, C Bangladesh and Calcutta region (1 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ), with single reports from Bhutan (4 Spierenburg, P. (2005). Birds in Bhutan: Status and Distribution. Oriental Bird Club, Bedford, UK. Close ), Myanmar and Malaysia (1 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ). Outside breeding season sometimes occurs in small family groups, but flocks rarely attain double figures (2 Hayman, P., J. Marchant, and T. Prater (1986). Shorebirds. An Identification Guide to the Waders of the World. Croom Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Primarily insects and their larvae, including grasshoppers and beetles; also molluscs. Mainly feeds nocturnally.

A drawn-out “tchee-it” in contact, with a "chit-oo-eet ” in alarm, which becomes a sharp “whit-whit-whit” in more extreme agitation (2 Hayman, P., J. Marchant, and T. Prater (1986). Shorebirds. An Identification Guide to the Waders of the World. Croom Helm, London, UK. Close ), which can be coupled with a tern-like, loud and thin “SCREEargh” that starts abruptly, is level at first, then becomes downslurred and at raspy at end (1 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ); generally considered to be less noisy (even when breeding) (1 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ) than V. indicus, with which the present species’ vocalizations are frequently compared (2 Hayman, P., J. Marchant, and T. Prater (1986). Shorebirds. An Identification Guide to the Waders of the World. Croom Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Breeds mainly Mar–Jul; season until Aug in Sri Lanka, from late Apr until mid Jun in Pakistan. Adults defend large territories, where young and parents feed, attacking most intruders (2 Hayman, P., J. Marchant, and T. Prater (1986). Shorebirds. An Identification Guide to the Waders of the World. Croom Helm, London, UK. Close ). Nest a shallow scrape, unlined, sometimes encircled by pebbles or mud pellets, sited on dry, open fallow or waste land. Clutch four eggs; on red laterite soil often has reddish eggs (kept cool by watering breast feathers) (2 Hayman, P., J. Marchant, and T. Prater (1986). Shorebirds. An Identification Guide to the Waders of the World. Croom Helm, London, UK. Close ); incubation  26–30 days, by both sexes (2 Hayman, P., J. Marchant, and T. Prater (1986). Shorebirds. An Identification Guide to the Waders of the World. Croom Helm, London, UK. Close ); chick buffy or fawn-grey, stippled black  and rufous, with white hindneck collar; fledgling 32 days, or more. In a study in N India, clutch size 3·6 eggs (n = 16 nests) and 27·6% hatching success, c. 52% of egg losses being due to predation, mainly by crows (5 Sethi, V.K., Bhatt, D. and Kumar, A. (2010). Hatching success in Yellow-wattled Lapwing Vanellus malabaricus. Indian Birds. 5(5): 139–142. Close ), although other studies have reported hatching success at 36·8%. Human predation is another cause of egg losses in this species and V. indicus (6 Srinivas, K.V. and Subramanya, S. (2000). Stealing of Redwattled lapwing Vanellus indicus (Boddaert) and Yellow-wattled Lapwing Vanellus malabaricus (Boddaert) eggs by cowherds. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 97(1): 143–144. Close ).

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). No population estimates available; widely distributed, and apparently still rather common. No threats known; adaptation to rather dry areas, and tolerance of anthropogenic habitats suggest species is probably secure at present. Frequent in lower Sind, Pakistan, and recently recorded in Jhelum, N Pakistan, also as a summer visitor, well outside the previously known range (7 Khalique, N., Rais, M., Mehmood, T., Anwar, M., Ali, S., Bilal, S. and Kabeer, B. (2012). Study on some waterfowls of Mangla Dam, Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Berkut 21(1–2): 44–49. Close ). Distribution in Sri Lanka generally restricted and fragmented, being largely confined to drier areas of the country.