Sociable Lapwing

Vanellus gregarius

Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Charadriidae
Presence in the Strait: Vagrant
IUCN (global): CR · Critically endangered
In Spanish: Avefría sociable

Photograph: Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, CC BY, vía iNaturalist

Length: 29 cm
Wingspan: 70–76 cm
Weight: 225 g

Presence in the Strait

Accidental. One bird seen on the 17th & 18th February ‘96 at the Celemín reservoir (Benalup) together with Northern Lapwing.

Identification

The size of a Northern Lapwing but with light brownish-grey plumage, without crest, with blackish legs, white supercilium and dark eye-stripe. In flight, displays tri-coloured plumage with black wing tips, white secondaries, brownish-grey coverts and black tail-band. They come from Asia and SE Russia.

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.

Calendar in the Strait

46 %

Peak in November. Observations under CC0 or CC BY licences. The distribution also reflects observation effort.

Where it is seen

Open records from the atlas database, in cells of about 3.6 km. Opacity follows the square root of the count, and also reflects where people observe most.

See on the map

First open record: 3 December 1972
Latest record: 10 November 2019

The oldest and the most recent open observation in the extended area. A recent first observation does not mean the species is new: it means nobody had published it openly before.

Conservation

The catalogues, Andalusian and Spanish, are what binds; the Red Book assesses the Spanish population with IUCN criteria, and the global Red List is the context.

LCNTVUENCR

Andalusian Catalogue: Not included
Spanish Catalogue: Not included
Red Book of the Birds of Spain 2021: Outside the Red List (not assessed)
Global Red List (IUCN): CR · Critically endangered

Andalusian Catalogue: Junta de Andalucía, list of 24 April 2025. Spanish Catalogue: MITECO, table of 30 June 2025. Red Book: SEO/BirdLife, 2021 (Annex I). IUCN: via GBIF, 6 September 2026. Red Book and IUCN categories are assessments; catalogue categories are legal obligations.

Same genus in the Strait

Northern Lapwing28–31 cm · Seasonal · overlapping size

Species of the same genus that also occur here, ordered by how close they are in size. Being relatives does not mean they are confused in the field, but that is where the doubts start: compare size and season.

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Charadriidae
GBIF taxon key: 5229138

Sources

Distribution and calendar: Bioestrecho's own database, ingested from GBIF and OBIS
Photograph: Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, CC BY, vía iNaturalist
Taxonomy: GBIF backbone, pending WoRMS for marine taxa
Editorial text: written by Bioestrecho
Last revised: 8 September 2026

Sociable Lapwing

Presence in the Strait

Identification

Gallery