CreatureData

Grey-headed lapwing

Vanellus cinereus (Blyth, 1842)

LCLeast Concernbirds

The grey-headed lapwing (Vanellus cinereus) is a species in the family Charadriidae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 265 g to 283 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Grey-headed lapwing (Vanellus cinereus)
Photo: Alpsdake · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the grey-headed lapwing

Weight
265 g – 283 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
75.5 cmsrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
wetlandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
28.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
4src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Migratorysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the grey-headed lapwing?

GREY-HEADED LAPWING · WINGSPAN 76 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 76 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the grey-headed lapwing is about 45% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the grey-headed lapwing live?

Not recorded

What is the grey-headed lapwing?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The grey-headed lapwing (Vanellus cinereus) is a lapwing species which breeds in northeast China and Japan. The mainland population winters in northern Southeast Asia from northeastern India to Cambodia. The Japanese population winters, at least partially, in southern Honshū.

This species has occurred as a vagrant in Russia, the Philippines, Indonesia, New South Wales, Australia, Telangana and Sri Lanka, as well as Sweden and England.

From the Wikipedia article “Grey-headed lapwing” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grey-headed_lapwing&oldid=1341336674), 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 grey-headed lapwing endangered?

The grey-headed 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 grey-headed lapwing classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCharadriiformes
  5. familyCharadriidae
  6. genusVanellus
  7. SpeciesVanellus cinereus (Blyth, 1842)

Synonyms Hoplopterus cinereus, Lobi-vanellus inornatus, Microsarcops cinereus, Pluvianus cinereus

Other names and names in other languages (53)
  • Gray-headed lapwingEnglish
  • أبو طيط رماديArabic
  • ابو طيط رمادىEgyptian Arabic
  • Сивоглава калугерицаBulgarian
  • Kernigell penn louetBreton
  • Kornigell penn louetBreton
  • fredeluga capgrisaCatalan
  • Луды кӹшедӹкMari
  • čejka šedohlaváCzech
  • cornchwiglen benllwydWelsh
  • Gråhovedet VibeDanish
  • GraukopfkiebitzGerman
  • grizkapa vaneloEsperanto
  • Avefría cenizaSpanish
  • hallpea-kiivitajaEstonian
  • خروسکلی سرخاکستریPersian
  • خروس کولی سرخاکستریPersian
  • huppuhyyppäFinnish
  • Vanneau à tête griseFrench
  • Feadóg cheannliathIrish
  • קיווית אפורת-ראשHebrew
  • szürkefejű bíbicHungarian
  • Մոխրագույն կիվիվArmenian
  • Trulek kelabuIndonesian
  • Trulek Abu-abuIndonesian
  • Pavoncella testagrigiaItalian
  • ケリJapanese
  • 鳧Japanese
  • 민댕기물떼새Korean
  • pilkagalvė pempėLithuanian
  • pelēkgalvas ķīvīteLatvian
  • ചാരത്തലയൻ തിത്തിരിMalayalam
  • တစ်တီတူးခေါင်းမွဲBurmese
  • राजहुटिट्याउँNepali
  • GrijskopkievitDutch
  • gråhodevipeNorwegian
  • czajka szarogłowaPolish
  • abibe-de-cabeça-cinzentaPortuguese
  • Серый чибисRussian
  • cíbik sivohlavýSlovak
  • Pepelasta pribaSlovenian
  • Sivoglava pribaSlovenian
  • Sivoglavi vivakSerbian
  • gråhuvad vipaSwedish
  • சாம்பல் தலை ஆள்காட்டிTamil
  • นกกระแตหัวเทาThai
  • Gri Başlı KızkuşuTurkish
  • чайка сіраUkrainian
  • Te vàngVietnamese
  • 灰頭麥雞Cantonese
  • 跳鴴Chinese
  • 灰头麦鸡Chinese
  • 跳鴴〔灰頭麥雞〕Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the grey-headed lapwing

Other species in the same genus Vanellus.

CompareGrey-headed lapwing vs Northern lapwingGrey-headed lapwing vs Red-wattled lapwingGrey-headed lapwing vs Sociable lapwingGrey-headed lapwing vs White-tailed lapwing

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the grey-headed lapwing?

An adult grey-headed lapwing weighs 265 g – 283 g and has a wingspan of 75.5 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the grey-headed lapwing endangered?

The grey-headed 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 grey-headed lapwing?

The grey-headed lapwing (Vanellus cinereus) 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). Grey-headed lapwing (Vanellus cinereus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/grey-headed-lapwing

MLA

“Grey-headed lapwing (Vanellus cinereus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/grey-headed-lapwing.

BibTeX
@misc{grey_headed_lapwing_2026,
  title = {Grey-headed lapwing (Vanellus cinereus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/grey-headed-lapwing},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}