Vanellus crassirostris
The Long-toed Lapwing, *Vanellus crassirostris*, is a strikingly elegant shorebird renowned for its exceptional adaptation to life on floating wetland vegetation. This medium-sized lapwing measures 29-31 cm in length and weighs between 100-150 grams, featuring a distinctive black cap, bright yellow facial wattles, a black hindneck, olive-brown back, and pristine white underparts. Its most defining feature, which lends it its common name, is its extraordinarily long, slender greenish-grey toes...
Found in freshwater wetlands, particularly those with extensive floating vegetation such as water lily beds, papyrus swamps, and reed marshes, typically at lowland elevations below 1500 meters.
Primarily feeds on aquatic insects and their larvae (including beetles, dragonflies, and flies), small crustaceans, molluscs, and occasionally takes small fish or tadpoles, foraging by gleaning and probing.
This diurnal lapwing is most active during the cooler hours of early morning and late afternoon, often roosting on dense floating vegetation or emergent stumps at night. It forages by walking deliberately across lily pads and other aquatic plants, gleaning invertebrates from the surface or probin...
The Long-toed Lapwing is a resident species, distributed across a broad band of sub-Saharan Africa, with two recognized subspecies defining its geographic spread. The nominate subspecies, *Vanellus crassirostris crassirostris*, ranges from southern Sudan south through eastern Uganda, western Keny...
Least Concern
- The Long-toed Lapwing possesses the longest toes relative to its body size among all lapwings, a unique adaptation for its wetland lifestyle. - It is famously capable of walking across flimsy floating vegetation like water lily pads without sinking, a skill shared by few other birds. - Its comm...