River Lapwing
Photo: Francesco Veronesi from Italy · CC BY-SA 2.0

Plovers and Lapwings

River Lapwing

Vanellus duvaucelii

NTNear Threatened
Family
Plovers and Lapwings (Charadriidae)
Order
Charadriiformes

Overview

The river lapwing (Vanellus duvaucelii) is a lapwing species which breeds from the Indian subcontinent eastwards to Southeast Asia. It range includes much of northern and northeastern India, and extends through Southeast Asia to Vietnam. It appears to be entirely sedentary. Formerly also called spur-winged lapwing, this name is better reserved for one of the "spur-winged plovers" of old, Vanellus spinosus of Africa, whose scientific name it literally translates.

Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Range and habitat

Rivers of India and Nepal to southwestern China and Indochina.

Range description: AviList Global Avian Checklist.

Sources and further reading

Last updated September 29, 2026.