Southern Lapwing
Vanellus chilensis

f6.7 @ 1/1000s, ISO:2500, Nikon D3S w 500mm and 1.7X teleconverter


"Southern Lapwing," Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This is a lapwing of lake and river banks or open grassland. It has benefited from the extension of the latter habitat through widespread cattle ranching. When nesting in the vicinity of airports, it poses a threat to the safety of aerial traffic. Its food is mainly insects and other small invertebrates, hunted using a run-and-wait technique mainly at night, often in flocks. In urban areas like Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo it can even be seen feeding on floodlit soccer pitches during televised matches. The southern lapwing breeds on grassland and sometimes ploughed fields, and has an aerobatic flapping display flight. It lays 2–3 (rarely 4) olive-brown eggs in a bare ground scrape. The nest and young are defended noisily and aggressively against all intruders (including humans) by means of threats, vocalizations and low flights. After the breeding season it disperses into wetlands and seasonally-flooded tropical grassland.
Ammo Ponds, Gamboa, Panama
 
02/26/2018