Bird Research News

Vol.5 No.11

2008.11.16.

Grey-Headed Lapwing

Keri (Jpn) Vanellus cinereus

Morphology and classification

Breeding system:

Measurements after Wakisaka et al. (2006).

Grey-headed Lapwings are monogamous. They breed from Marchto August. A pair hold a 2.1ha territory on average and defend it
together. It is unknown whether the male and female build a nest
together, but both sexes incubate the eggs alternately. The hatchlings soon leave the nest and start to forage for food by themselves
following their parent birds in the territory. Parent birds incubateand defend their hatchlings if necessary. When the young learn tofly, the family flock leaves the territory. They usually breed oncein a breeding season, and the second breeding is rare. When theyfailed in the first breeding attempt, however, they try to re-nest up
to two times (Takahashi 2007).

Appearance:

Nest:

Males and females are similar inplumage coloration. Adult birds arebluish gray from the head to theupper chest with a black band on thechest. They are ashy brown on theupperpart and white on the underpart. The primary flight feathers areblack and the secondary flight feathers are white, which makes a striking
contrast when in flight. The tail has ablack band on a white ground. Thefeet, the mouth wattles and the eyerings behind the wattles are yellow.
The iris is reddish orange. The bill isyellow with a black tip. They also
have black or pale brown wing claws
at the bend of a wing, which tend to
be greater in males (Wakisaka et al.
2006). Juveniles, on the other hand,
are light brown from the head to theback without a black band on thechest. The iris is reddish brown.

They build a nest in wet habitats,such as paddy fields and low grassand bare areas around them, suchas ridges, cropland, fallow fields
and dry riverbeds. They dig a several-centimeter- deep hole in theground and line blades and stemsof grass collected from the surroundings. The nest is about 20cm
in diameter and about 2cm inheight. When they build a nest in amarsh, they pile up nest materials
higher so that the nest may not be
filled with water.

Classification: Charadriiformes Charadriidae
Total length:♂ 341.7 ± 12.1mm (n=14) ♀ 336.3 ± 12.1mm (12)Wing length: ♂ 236.9 ± 7.5mm (14)♀ 235.5 ± 4.6mm (12)Tail length:♂ 109.4 ± 3.7mm (14)♀ 109.8 ± 2.8mm (11)Culmen length: ♂ 42.02 ± 2.91mm (14) ♀ 41.37 ± 3.00mm (12)Tarsus length: ♂ 76.90 ± 2.70mm (14) ♀ 76.26 ± 3.45mm (12)Wing claw:♂ 5.08 ± 1.35mm (14)♀ 3.69 ± 0.54mm (12)Weight:♂ 280.1 ± 15.9g (13)♀ 266.6 ± 19.7g (10)Photo 2. Parent bird incubatingin the nest.

Egg:
Photo 1. Grey-Headed Lapwing adult (above) and juvenile (below)

The clutch size is mostly four eggs,
with a range of 1-5 eggs. The egg
is 42.0-51.9mm by 29.9-36.6mm insize and 19.2-43.0g in weight. It ispale green or pale brown with darkbrown or black speckles all over.

Photo 3. Nest and eggs of Grey-Headed Lapwings

Vocalization:

Incubation and rearing periods and fledging rate:

They call like "Keritt", "Kiriri" or "Krurr".

The incubation period is about 28 days and the young leave thenest within two days after hatching. The juvenile plumage begins
to grow about 15 days after hatching, and small wattles and wing
claws become discernible at this time. The young can fly about 44
days after hatching, when they leave the natal territory. The hatching rate was about 45%, the fledging rate was about 65% and thebreeding performance was about 30% in the study site.

Distribution and Habitat
Distribution:
Grey-headed Lapwings are distributed from northeastern China toSoutheast Asia. In Japan, they sporadically occur from northeastern to western Japan (Sonobe & Robinson 1985, Nakamura 1995).
In the 1950s, they were confirmed to breed only in the northern
Kanto to the Tohoku Regions (Kiyosu 1966). But since the 1970s,
they have gradually expanded their breeding range south primarily
along the Pacific seaboard to western Japan, and in recent years,
they have bred in the Kyushu Region, southern Japan as well.

Ecology of the non-breeding period:
After late July, the pairs and families that finished breeding form asmall flock of about ten birds and molt. After October most of thepopulation breeding in snowy regions head south, but some ofthem stay and winter in the breeding grounds. The birds that went
south return to the breeding sites around late February.

Habitat:Grey-headed Lapwings are found principally in farmland and riverbeds in the lowlands, and feed in short meadows and marshes.
The diet consists mostly of small invertebrates on or under theground. They usually form a breeding colony with denselyestablished territories of several pairs in the breeding period, butsome of them nest alone.

Life history
123

migration

4

5

6

breeding period7891011 12colonial period

wintering
periodTopics of ecology, behavior and conservation● Collective defense behavior
The behavior of mobbing predators in defense of the nest andyoung is known in many birds.
The genus Vanellus is especially noted for their vigorous
defense behavior among others (Elliot 1985a, b, Ohno
1996, Kis et al. 2000). Neighboring two or more pairs
sometimes form a defensive Photo 4. Threat behavior to the research worker.
flock (Walters 1990). When a4♪ http://www.bird-research.jp/1_shiryo/koe/keri_120508_himeji_kuroda.mp3
Haruo Kuroda♪ http://www.bird-research.jp/1_shiryo/koe/keri_120508b_himeji_kuroda.mp3
Toshiaki Hirano

Bird Research News

Vol.5 No.11

2008.11.16.

© Japan Bird Research Association
Sumiyoshi 1-29-9, Fuchu, Tokyo, Japan(a)バードリサーチ生態図鑑
(b)

(c)

● Other effects on the reproductive performance ofGrey-headed Lapwings

target groups

crows (n = 188)
birds of prey (n = 175)
egrets (n = 34)
starling (n = 29)
others (n = 39)
humans (n = 196)050

100 050 100 050

defense frequency (%)
Fig. 1. Defense frequency against six groups by (a) one bird, (b) two birds
and (c) more than two birds. Especially, collective defense was greater infrequency against birds of prey.

Frequency of collective defense/hour

predator intrudes into one of the territories in a breeding colony of
Grey-headed Lapwings, neighboring pairs help the intruded territory pair to drive the predator out, uttering an alarm call. If theycannot chase the predator away, however, they start to circle overthe predator to threaten it and further launch an attack risking a
direct contact against it. Up to 16 birds participated in the collective defense in the study site. The collective defense was closelyrelated to the types of territory intruders and the distance between
nests (Takahashi et al. 2007). The targets of lapwing attack ranged
from possible predators, such as large birds and snakes to harmlesssmall birds and humans. They frequently used a collective defense
against birds of prey in particular (Fig. 1). The collective defense
wasmorefrequently
1.2
ｎ=1 1
adopted in a denselynested colony (Fig. 2). In
P<0 .05
addition, the collective
r=-0 . 63
defense was effective in0.8
the expulsion of predators.
When a greater number ofbirds participated in the0.4
defense, they repelled
predators more successfully (Takahashi 2007). It is
0assumed, therefore, that
0300600
Grey-headed
Lapwings
Meanshortest
distance
betweennests(m)repel predators effectively
by using a collective de- Fig. 2. Relationship between the nest
distance and collective defense frefense with a great defense
quency in different breeding colonies.
capacity acquired throughCollective defense was greater informing a densely-nested
frequency in a densely-nested colony.
colony.

In addition to disturbance due to farming, defense behavior andterritory size have effects on the reproductive performance of Grey-headed Lapwings, depending on their breeding stages (Takahashiet al. 2007). Defense behavior greatly contributed for the survivalof eggs in the incubation period in the study site because the eggs
were safer and hatching success (hatchlings per nest) tended to begreater in a colony where defense behavior occurred more frequently. In addition, collective defense was remarkably effective
in defending the eggs (Takahashi 2007). On the other hand, territory size played a major role in the rearing period. The growth rateof chicks and fledging success (number of the young that grew upto fly) were greater in a larger territory (Takahashi 2007). Excluding the impact of humans by farming, their defense behavior ishighly instrumental during the incubation period because the survival of eggs depends on predation frequency and the defense
capacity of parent birds. During the rearing period, on the otherhand, the territory size which represents a supply of food has agreater effect on the survival of chicks than defense behavior because the young can forage for food by themselves.

Literature
Andren H. 1992. Corvid density and nest predation in relation to forest fragmentation: a landscape perspective. Ecology 73:794-804.
Elliot R.D. 1985a. The effects of predation risk and group size on the anti-predator
responses of nesting lapwings Vanellus vanellus. Behavior 92:168-187.
Elliot R.D. 1985b. The exclusion of avian predators from aggregations of nestinglapwings (Vanellus vanellus). Anim. Behav. 33:308-314.
Kis J., Liker A. & Szekely T. 2000. Nest defense by Lapwings: observations on
natural behavior and an experiment. Ardea 88:155-163.
Kiyosu Y. 1966. Encyclopedia of Wild Birds. Tokyodo Pub., Tokyo. [J]Nakamura T. 1995. Nakamura T. & Nakamura M. eds. Birds' Life in Japan withColor Pictures (Birds of marsh, shore and ocean). Hoikusha, Osaka. [J]
Ohno Y. 1996. Effects of nesting Grey-headed lapwings Microsarcops cinereus on
the intensity of the artificial nest predation by Carrion crows Corvus corone.
Jpn. J. Ornithol. 45:91-99.
Sonobe K. & Robinson J.W. (ed) 1985. A field guide to the birds of Japan. Kodansha international, Tokyo.
Takahashi M. 2007. Ecology of the Grey-Headed Lapwing Vanellus cinereus thatlives in the Hokuriku region—on the colonial breeding and the communal defense -. Master's thesis at the Graduate school of Natural Science & Technology,
Kanazawa University, Master's program. [J].
Takahashi M. & Ohkawara K. 2007. Breeding behavior and reproductive success ofGrey-headed Lapwing Vanellus vinereus on farmland in central Japan. Ornithol.
Sci. 6:1-9.
Walters J.R. 1990. Anti-predatory behavior of Lapwings: Field evidence of discriminative abilities. Wilson Bull. 102:49-70.
Wakisaka H., Nakagawa M., Wakisaka K. & Itho M. 2006. Molecular sexing andsexual difference in carpal spur length of the Grey-headed Lapwing, Vanellus
cinereus (Charadriidae). Ornithol. Sci. 5:133-137.
Languages of literature cited other than English: [J] in Japanese, [J+E] in Japanesewith English summary.

● Profound impact of humans on the reproductive successof Grey-headed Lapwings
Although many bird species use farmland such as a paddy field inthe breeding season in Japan, few of them nest right in agricultural
fields as Grey-headed Lapwings do, which are one of the species
that depend most heavily on farmland. Therefore, humans have agreat impact on their reproductive performance (Takahashi et al.
2007). In the study site, for instance, half of the nests was destroyed by farming, such as plowing and rice planting in the incubation period. About 10% of the nests fell victim to the predationof mammals, crows and snakes because predation pressure is great
in farmland (Andren 1992). The breeding failure resulted fromhuman disturbance occurred more frequently in nests built in riceand crop fields, while the predation-related failure was greater infrequency in nests on a ridge between paddy fields. The breeding
failure of Grey-headed Lapwings is closely related to nesting habitats.

Author
Masao Takahashi Animal Ecology Laboratory, Rikkyo University
I studied the breeding ecology of Grey-Headed Lapwings in Ishikawa
Prefecture for three years in a master's course. But I completelychanged my study topic, when I enrolled in a doctoral course. Now I
am studying the breeding ecology of JapaneseMarsh Warblers (Locustella pryeri) in myhometown of Aomori Prefecture. I expect thestudy of Grey-Headed Lapwings to be usefulfor the conservation of Japanese Marsh Warblers because both species unexpectedly sharecommon ecological features, such as adaptation to a flood plain, the use of fallow fields
and coloniality.
hachi77vanellus@yahoo.co.jp

5