White-tailed lapwing

Description

The white-tailed lapwing or white-tailed plover (Vanellus leucurus) is a wader in the lapwing genus.The genus name Vanellus is Medieval Latin for a lapwing and derives from vannus a winnowing fan.The specific leucurus is from Ancient Greek leukouros,"white-tailed".This medium-sized lapwing is long-legged and fairly long-billed.It is the only lapwing likely to be seen in other than very shallow water,where it picks insects and other small prey mainly from the surface.Adults are slim erect birds with a brown back and foreneck,paler face and grey breast.Its long yellow legs,pure white tail and distinctive brown,white and black wings make this species unmistakable.Young birds have a scaly back,and may show some brown in the tail.The breeding season call is a peewit,similar to northern lapwing.It breeds semi-colonially on inland marshes in Iraq,Iran and southern Russia.Four eggs are laid in a ground nest.The Iraqi and Iranian breeders are mainly residents,but Russian birds migrate south in winter to the Indian Subcontinent,the Middle East and north east Africa.It is a very rare vagrant in western Europe,the first example in Britain being found at Packington,Warwickshire on 12 July 1975.