Spur-winged Lapwing
The spur-winged lapwing or spur-winged plover (Vanellus spinosus) is a lapwing species, one of a group of largish waders in the family Charadriidae.
Hear it on xeno-canto Community recordings — opens xeno-canto →In Türkiye
Arrives in spring and leaves in autumn; winter records are almost absent.
Provinces where it makes up the largest share of bird records.
Adjusted for how many birdwatchers are out each month; the busiest month = 100%.
8,327 records from Türkiye · #121 of 634 species by number of records. Source: GBIF.org (October 2026). All birds of Türkiye
About
The spur-winged lapwing was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the plovers in the genus Charadrius and coined the binomial name Charadrius spinosus. He specified the type locality as Egypt. The specific epithet is from Latin meaning "thorny" (from spina meaning "thorn"). Linnaeus based his account on a description by the Swedish naturalist Fredrik Hasselquist that had been published in 1757. The spur-winged lapwing is now one of 23 species placed in the genus Vanellus that was introduced in 1760 by the French naturalist Mathurin Jacques Brisson. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
The spur-winged lapwing is a medium-large wader with a black crown, chest, foreneck stripe and tail. The face, the rest of the neck and belly are white and the wings and back are light brown. The bill and legs are black. It has a loud did-he-do-it call.
Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
At a glance
The spur-winged lapwing has a sharp spur at the wing bend and defends its nest fearlessly with loud dives at intruders.
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