Stats

Lifespan

10-15 yrs

Size

Small

Diet

Insectivore

Activity

Diurnal

Social

Pair

Biome

Freshwater wetland

Range

Sub-Saharan Africa

Movement

Flight

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Spines

Status

Uncommon

About

Blacksmith Lapwings are ground-dwelling birds found from Kenya through central Tanzania to southern and southwestern Africa. They have a distinctive metallic alarm call that sounds like a blacksmith's hammer striking an anvil.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg

   A clutch of eggs is incubated in the nest, kept warm by a brooding parent until the chicks pip free.
2. 2.
   hatchling

   A naked or downy hatchling is fed in the nest by its parents.
3. 3.
   juvenile

   A feathered juvenile fledges from the nest and learns to fly and forage.
4. 4.
   adult

   Fully grown with adult plumage.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Charadriidae

Genus

Vanellus

Species

Vanellus armatus