15 Species of Plover and Lapwing Found in India

The bird family of Charadriidae the family of lapwing and plover, actually lapwing can be thought of as a larger plover bird. These small to medium-sized birds are wading birds, found throughout the world and feed mainly on insects and invertebrates.

7 Species of Lapwing Found in India

Lapwings are from the family of Charadriidae which also includes the plovers and dotterels, Here we are listing 7 species of lapwing birds found in India.

Sociable Lapwing

The sociable lapwing also known as sociable plover listed as critically endangered bird in India and usually found with northern lapwing.
Sociable plover feeds on insects from the grassland and also a ground nesting bird like other species of lapwings.

Northern Lapwing

Northern lapwing is highly migratory bird, wintering in northern India and parts of China. The black and white with crest is a very beautiful bird from the lapwing family and one of the 7 species of lapwing found in India.

Red-wattled Lapwing

The red-wattled lapwing is one of the most common bird of India, a ground bird and known for loud alarm calls. This large plover bird breeds in the entire Indian subcontinent, seen in pairs with noisy nature of loud did-he-do-it call day and night.

Yellow-wattled Lapwing

The yellow-wattled lapwing is endemic to the Indian Subcontinent, Found on the dry plains and like other lapwings and plover birds of India they also nest on the ground. Yellow lapwing is common in much of open lowland habitats and feeds on beetles, termites and invertebrates.

River Lapwing

The river lapwing species breeds from the Indian Subcontinent to Southeast Asia, closely related to spur-winged lapwing of Africa. This species nests on sand banks and feeds on insects, worms and molluscs.

White-tailed Lapwing

The white-tailed lapwing is another species of lapwing winter to the Indian Subcontinent and facing threats related to habitat destruction, similar to sociable lapwing and a fairly large lapwing bird.

Grey-headed Lapwing

The grey-headed lapwing mainly winters in northeastern India to Southeast Asia, They are migratory birds and documented from the Sundarbans National Park of West Bengal.

8 Species of Plover Found in India

The plover family of birds are also part of the wading group of birds, found throughout the world and closely related to lapwing. There are 8 different species of plover found in India, Here are the below list.

Grey Plover

The grey plover is a medium-sized plover bird that feeds on food of beaches like molluscs and insects. Black-bellied plover is also migratory that breeds across the coast, wintering at Chilika Lake of Odisha and Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh.

Caspian Plover

The Caspian plover found in and around river valleys and very much similar to sand plover in appearance. This plover species also feeds on small snails, grasshoppers, seeds of grasses and other species of insects.

Kentish Plover

The Kentish plover found across the wide geographical location and breeding habitats include coastland and wetlands. Kentish plovers reported from the Akshi Beach of Maharashtra and also distributed in most of the Indian states.

Little Ringed Plover

The little ringed plover with yellow eye-ring is a small plover found in India, Are migratory and winter in India and Africa. These small plover species of birds forage for food on muddy areas, eat insects and worms.

Greater Sand Plover

Greater sand plover is strongly migratory bird, wintering on sandy beaches of India like lesser sand plover. The species with grey back and white underparts looks similar to lesser sand plover.

Lesser Sand Plover

The lesser sand plover breeds in the Himalayas and is a strongly migratory bird, wintering along the Indian beach. The sand plover also feeds on insects like other plover, looks very much similar to the greater sand plover.

Long-billed Plover

The long-billed plover is a migratory bird, spends the winter in India and always seen along the rivers, wetlands and streams. They have reported from the the Himalayas in the western Arunachal Pradesh in northeast India.

Crab Plover

Crab plover is a lesser known species of plover bird found in India, migrate to coasts and islands of the Indian Ocean and reported from the Gujarat coast in India