The Red Wattled Lapwing

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The Red Wattled Lapwing is a very common species of bird which could be found in most parts of the country. The popular phrase ‘Did-he-do-it, pity-to-do-it’ is somewhat close to its loud cry, making it a very popular bird among our childhood. As the name itself suggests, it has a red wattle running downwards from its eyes. The red wattle, the black, white and brown colour body easily makes them identifiable.

Lapwings are ground dwelling birds which are known to rest on trees at night. Their call at night from tree tops meant that some animal or human is approaching in the dark which was said to be very helpful to soldiers during the period of war in Sri Lanka.

Lapwings feed on small insects, small fish and small reptiles which they could forage in the ground during daytime. They can be usually found in pairs or as small groups. Cricket pitches in Colombo are also home to these birds, as they need open ground to look for food while being cautious of any predators.

They lay around 4 eggs on the ground itself and incubate them. The eggs are quite hard to spot as they are well camouflaged. So are the hatchlings. They resemble the colour of the surroundings and hide and freeze to avoid detection if threatened by an intruder until they are grown up enough to fly by themselves.

They have yellow legs, and try to run way to avoid any possible danger approaching towards them. If this doesn’t work, they fly away.

It’s known as Kirala in Sinhalese language although many are used to mistakenly call them as Korawakka, which is the waterhen.




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