Vanellus coronatus
crowned plover
(Also: crowned lapwing)

Resident in eastern and southern Africa, crowned plovers are found from Ethiopia in the north to South Africa in the south and east to Kenya. Recorded as high as 3000 m above sea level, this bird is absent from coastal lowlands south of Malindi and from much of the Lake Victoria basin.

Crowned plovers are widespread over Africa. They are found where the grass is short or has been burned, such as on dry grassland, open savanna, and cultivated lands. Habitats with low rainfall are acceptable as long as the lacking of precipitation does not affect food availability.

Female crowned plovers are identical to males. Adults are uniformly brown on the back and chest. The white belly is separated from the breast by a narrow black line. The tail is white with a broad black band while underneath the tail and wing are also white. The crowned plover has a broad, diagonal white wing-stripe. Its black crown is encircled by a white ring. The eyes are yellow during the breeding season and brownish orange when not breeding. The bill is red with a brownish tip, and the long legs are also red. This large plover has a length of 30-31 cm. Juveniles have a duller head pattern.

Crowned plovers are gregarious, sometimes appearing in flocks of as many as 36 outside of the breeding season. Most often they occur in small groups that are casual aggregations. Territorial behavior is almost nonexistent even during the breeding season. When an alarm call is heard from another plover species, it responds by aerially swarming the intruder. But once the attack is over, the rescuing bird is often chased off by the bird that was in danger in the first place. Because crowned plovers live in open grassland where there is no vegetation to conceal them, they have a highly-developed ability to detect potential predators. Often nesting occurs in close vicinity to other plovers. As soon as hatching occurs the adults change from being quiet and restrained to being exceedingly noisy and aggressive at the approach of a human. The crowned plover is highly conspicuous, it moves by alternating short runs with its body held horizontally with a motionless vertical stance. The crowned plover is highly vocal with a rasping erEEK, an excited kree-kree-kreeip-kreeip or WEEK-EEK-EEK, or a chattering tri-tri-tri-tri.

The crowned plover opportunistically forages on a wide variety of insects, but mostly ants and termites. These insects are often extracted from the dung of large mammals. They feed mainly by surface pecking as opposed to digging. One curious feeding habit of all plovers, which has not fully been analyzed, has been called foot paddling or foot trembling. The plover stamps the ground with its foot. Worms mistake the noise for the pattering of rain and burrow up to the surface where they are eaten by the plover.

This species is widespread throughout its range and in no need of conservation attention. To make sure the species population remains at a safe size, open African habitats must be maintained.

Plover evolution began late in the Cretaceous period. The plover family Charadriidae is one of the nine families of waders. Of 190 wader species, 63 of them belong to the plover family.