CreatureData

Black-winged lapwing

Vanellus melanopterus (Cretzschmar, 1829)

LCLeast Concernbirds

The black-winged lapwing (Vanellus melanopterus) is a species in the family Charadriidae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 180 g to 189.8 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Black-winged lapwing (Vanellus melanopterus)
Photo: Francesco Veronesi from Italy · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the black-winged lapwing

Weight
180 g – 189.8 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
grasslandsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
3src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the black-winged lapwing live?

Not recorded

What is the black-winged lapwing?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The black-winged lapwing. black-winged plover or greater black-winged lapwing (Vanellus melanopterus) is an east African species that is found from the Ethiopian highlands in the north to central Kenya (race V. m. melanopterus), and again at middle to coastal elevations in eastern South Africa (race V. m. minor). It is a habitat specialist of short grass in well-watered temperate grasslands. They may move about locally to find ideal situations, often at night. In their tightly grouped flying flocks they resemble plovers.

From the Wikipedia article “Black-winged lapwing” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black-winged_lapwing&oldid=1373474668), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the black-winged lapwing endangered?

The black-winged lapwing is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the black-winged lapwing classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCharadriiformes
  5. familyCharadriidae
  6. genusVanellus
  7. SpeciesVanellus melanopterus (Cretzschmar, 1829)

Synonyms Hoplopterus melanopterus, Stephanibyx melanopterus, Titihoia melanopterus

Other names and names in other languages (39)
  • Black-winged ploverEnglish
  • Blackwing lapwingEnglish
  • BWLAEnglish
  • Greater black-winged lapwingEnglish
  • GrootswartvlerkkiewietAfrikaans
  • أبو طيط أسود الجناحArabic
  • طائر لابوينج اسود مجنحEgyptian Arabic
  • fredeluga alanegraCatalan
  • čejka černokřídláCzech
  • cornchwiglen adeindduWelsh
  • Lys SørgevibeDanish
  • SchwarzflügelkiebitzGerman
  • nigraflugila vaneloEsperanto
  • Avefría lugubroideSpanish
  • karjakiivitajaEstonian
  • خروسکلی بالسیاهPersian
  • laidunhyyppäFinnish
  • Vanneau à ailes noiresFrench
  • smeđoleđi vivakCroatian
  • feketeszárnyú bíbicHungarian
  • Սևաթև եղտյուրիկArmenian
  • Pavoncella alinereItalian
  • ハグロゲリJapanese
  • juodasparnė pempėLithuanian
  • zwartvleugelkievitDutch
  • fjellsørgevipeNorwegian
  • czajka czarnoskrzydłaPolish
  • abibe-d'asa-negraPortuguese
  • abibe-d'asa-pretaPortuguese
  • abibe-de-asa-negraPortuguese
  • Чернокрылый чибисRussian
  • Чернокрылая пигалицаRussian
  • cíbik čiernokrídlySlovak
  • Crnokrili vivakSerbian
  • ljus sorgvipaSwedish
  • Kara Kanatlı KızkuşuTurkish
  • чайка чорнокрилаUkrainian
  • 黑翅麥雞Chinese
  • 黑翅麦鸡Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the black-winged lapwing

Other species in the same genus Vanellus.

CompareBlack-winged lapwing vs Northern lapwingBlack-winged lapwing vs Red-wattled lapwingBlack-winged lapwing vs Sociable lapwingBlack-winged lapwing vs White-tailed lapwing

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the black-winged lapwing?

An adult black-winged lapwing weighs 180 g – 189.8 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the black-winged lapwing endangered?

The black-winged lapwing is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the black-winged lapwing?

The black-winged lapwing (Vanellus melanopterus) belongs to the family Charadriidae in the order Charadriiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Black-winged lapwing (Vanellus melanopterus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-winged-lapwing

MLA

“Black-winged lapwing (Vanellus melanopterus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-winged-lapwing.

BibTeX
@misc{black_winged_lapwing_2026,
  title = {Black-winged lapwing (Vanellus melanopterus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-winged-lapwing},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}