Black-headed Lapwing (Vanellus tectus)

About the Black-headed Lapwing
The black-headed lapwing or black-headed plover (Vanellus tectus) is a large lapwing, a group of largish waders in the family Charadriidae. It is a resident breeder across sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal to Ethiopia, although it has seasonal movements. It lays two or three eggs on a ground scrape. These are conspicuous and unmistakable birds. They are medium-large waders with a black head other than a white forehead, lower face and bands across the rear head and nape. There is a wispy black crest like northern lapwing and the bill and legs are red. The tail is white, tipped black. In flight, the black-headed lapwing's upperwings have black flight feathers and brown coverts separated by a white bar. The underwings are white with black flight feathers.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 13 recordings for this species: 2 CC BY-NC-SA · 1 CC BY-NC-ND. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, Uganda in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Related species you can hear
- Northern LapwingVanellus vanellusrecording
- Red-wattled LapwingVanellus indicusrecording
- Sociable LapwingVanellus gregariusrecording
This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.