Lapwings are a black and white bird,
or at least I thought so, till this week when I took a closer look
The first glance black and white, belies an iridescent palette of oil on water colours. Lapwings, or peewits as they are sometimes called, because of the cry they make (listen and watch here) like a habitat of rough, unimproved, broken pasture, around here it is usually bordering on open moorland, where they neighbour with curlews (curlews coming soon, to this blog; I hope.)
On the ground they were surprisingly well camouflaged
The longer I looked the more I could see,
and I’m impressed with the feat of origami that allows the sweeping long wing tip feathers to fold up so neatly, when not in use
Their flight is wonderful to watch* especially at this time of year, with lots of barrel rolls and swooping turns
I was so engrossed that I just about missed the steam train that came thundering down the track behind me. It’s a rubbish shot but I’ll post it any way, in case you are more of a train spotter than a twitcher,
its the 45407 engine, here is all you need to know, and more besides
March 21, 2009 at 7:39 pm
We call Pewits (Green Plover) ‘Tearfits’. Or more exactly, where I grew up, we did. Their aerobatics are amazing. Their chicks, newly hatched, are cute little balls of almost black fluff on extraordinarily long legs.
As ever, Excellent piccies!
March 21, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Good call. Lapwings over steam trains every time.
I love the call – like an old electronic handheld game. I think I laughed out loud the first time I heard it.
March 21, 2009 at 8:19 pm
nice photos of that wonderful thing called flight
March 21, 2009 at 10:57 pm
What a beautiful bird! I’ve never seen it’s like before. How wonderful that it lives and flies where you live and shoot photos!
March 21, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Brilliant photos. Well done.
March 22, 2009 at 2:57 am
These are wonderful! “Feat of origami” indeed – I never saw such a thing. We have related birds–piping plovers and killdeer–but they have nowhere near as much wing to pack up! I love the little topknot on the lapwing. That second-to-last bird photo looks like an owl on stilts . . . Now I must go look up twitcher.
March 22, 2009 at 3:05 am
Back again. Mercy! British birds must be very self-possessed. A Michigan bird confronted with a crowd of 5,000 twitchers would either faint dead away from shock or flee across the Canadian border.
OK, I played the lapwing recording, too, and now Miss Sadie and the Cowboy are inspecting the computer for mice. Must go.
March 22, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Gerry, I think you might be amused by this story
Whenever I put bird call links into my posts I think of Cowboy and Miss Sadie listening in a state of canine confusion!!
March 22, 2009 at 8:10 am
Absolutely superb photo of an amazing looking bird! I’ve never seen any of these but would love to see one aloft like that. xx
March 23, 2009 at 3:21 am
What incredible wings! Thanks for the great photos and write-up ~I’ve never seen a lapwing either. On your comment to Gerry, I was sorry to read of the fate of the poorAmerican robin ~ finally reaching land but with such bad timing ~ Sparrowhawk’s teatime! The Sparrowhawk stole the show!
March 23, 2009 at 10:41 am
The lapwing is my favourite bird, but I haven’t seen one in years. I love the little curl on the top of the head, the oily green and purple colouring, and those ungainly flapping wing-tips. Whenever I am contemplating buying another bird book I always check out the picture of the lapwing and make this a kind of yardstick. Likewise, when buying a cookery book I judge it on its version of carrot and orange soup!
March 23, 2009 at 11:21 am
Up here the lapwing is the Chughit bird and heralds the coming of spring.
March 23, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Oh my – poor robin. Effective control of an invasive species, though.
March 23, 2009 at 5:51 pm
What a spectacular bird! I would love to see one of these. Bernie and I spend quite a bit of time spotting birds where ever we go, and they are one of the main types of animals that he photographs.
Lovely photographs!
March 23, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Amazing captures. I remember seeing huge flocks of lapwings circling fields again and again before landing… but that became a rarer and rarer sight in North Yorkshire (I’ve since left, so have no idea if numbers are back up. Does anyone know if they’re endangered?)
March 24, 2009 at 11:16 am
I was childishly amused by the Latin name of that poor robin…
March 24, 2009 at 11:57 am
This is a fab set of photos of this fascinating bird. Here we have them in the field with the oystercatchers and curlews. I almost had a good shot of a field filled with curlews but we were out in the landie and as the OH slowed so I could take the shot the brakes squealed loudly and so they all flew off before I could get a shot.
March 24, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Curlews are on my wish list, another problem of photo taking from Landrovers is that every cow in the field thinks you’ve brought fodder and comes charging down the hill, I once pulled off the Rd into a gateway, to make an important business call on my mobile; only to have the accompaniment of 20 mooing heifers in the background, it rather blew my ‘business cred’
March 29, 2009 at 6:37 am
I love lapwings and grew up calling them peewits – wasn’t until I was grown up that I realised that lapwings and peewits were the same thing:) Love the train photo – I’m a trainspotter when it comes to steam engines!
March 30, 2009 at 1:16 am
Very fine photographs on your pages. You make me miss lapwings!
April 20, 2014 at 8:17 am
Lovely blog. I came across you via Google, searching for a particular type of bird I’d seen in Southern Italy. So now thanks to the lapwing I’ve identified my bird and found a great new blog to read!
April 20, 2014 at 8:19 am
Welcome. I’d noticed I get a lot of search engine hits looking for ‘black and white bird’s so you are not alone in your quest!
April 20, 2014 at 6:05 pm
You could pop by this blog for more lapwing action
http://cabinetofcuriosities-greenfingers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/show-offs.html
April 21, 2014 at 9:13 pm
Great. thanks a lot. I saw another today and am curious to find out more!
May 28, 2014 at 11:13 pm
Great photos of this amazing bird!