Northern lapwing
Vanellus vanellus (Linnaeus, 1758)
The northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus), also called Peewit, Lapwing or Green plover, is a bird in the family Charadriidae of the order Charadriiformes. It is a small bird with an adult body mass of 218.4 g, ranging from 211 to 226 g, and a wingspan of 72.25 cm, ranging from 67 to 75 cm.
Quick facts about the northern lapwing
The northern lapwing is a terrestrial, partially migratory omnivore of wetland habitat, with a geographic range of 18,590,000 km². It lays a clutch of 4 eggs once per year, incubates them for 25.7 days, reaches sexual maturity at 2 years and is listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN.
- Weight
- 211 g – 226 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 67 cm – 75 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 23.6 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Omnivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 24.5 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 25.7 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 24 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Near Threatened (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the northern lapwing?
Photos of the northern lapwing
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the northern lapwing live?
Not recorded
What is the northern lapwing?
The northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus), also known as the peewit or pewit, tuit or tewit, green plover, or (in Ireland and Great Britain) pyewipe or just lapwing, is a bird in the lapwing subfamily. It is common through temperate Eurosiberia.
From the Wikipedia article “Northern lapwing” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Northern_lapwing&oldid=1359049934), 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.
What does the northern lapwing sound like?
Is the northern lapwing endangered?
The northern lapwing is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List: it is close to qualifying as threatened.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Near Threatened species.
How is the northern lapwing classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCharadriiformes
- familyCharadriidae
- genusVanellus
- SpeciesVanellus vanellus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Tringa vanellus, Vanellus bicornis, Vanellus crispus, Vanellus cristatus, Vanellus gavia, Vanellus linnéi, Vanellus vulgaris
Other names and names in other languages (151)
- Green ploverEnglish
- LapwingEnglish
- LapwingEnglish
- PeewitEnglish
- GiritziAlbanian
- ابو طيطArabic
- زقزاق أخضرArabic
- زقزاق شاميArabic
- قطقاط شماليArabic
- الزقزاق الأخضر الشاميArabic
- أبو طيط ذو العرفArabic
- ChudíaAragonese
- chovaAsturian
- chova del marAsturian
- cigoreyaAsturian
- peguetaAsturian
- peguiellaAsturian
- НукӀускӀатӀахӀAvaric
- Buynyzlu cüllütAzerbaijani
- ТәгәрлекBashkir
- КнігаўкаBelarusian
- КнiгаўкаBelarusian
- Обикновена калугерицаBulgarian
- Kernigell gupennekBreton
- Kornigell gupennekBreton
- JuiaCatalan
- FredelugaCatalan
- fredeluga europeaCatalan
- Kuź bolu h́ozaChechen
- КӹшедӹкMari
- ТекерлӗкChuvash
- ТĕкĕрлекChuvash
- čejka chocholatáCzech
- CziwùtkaKashubian
- cornchwiglenWelsh
- CornchwiglodWelsh
- vibeDanish
- KiebitzGerman
- ΚαλημάναGreek
- Ευρωπαϊκή ΚαλημάναGreek
- (Ευρωπαϊκή) ΚαλημάναGreek
- TufvaneloEsperanto
- ordinara vaneloEsperanto
- Avefría europeaSpanish
- kiivitajaEstonian
- HegaberaBasque
- خروس کولیPersian
- خروس کولی معمولیPersian
- töyhtöhyyppäFinnish
- VípaFaroese
- Vanneau huppéFrench
- LiapNorthern Frisian
- LjipWestern Frisian
- Saotharcán TuaisceartachIrish
- pilibínScottish Gaelic
- adharcain-luachrachScottish Gaelic
- adharcan-luachrachScottish Gaelic
- curracagScottish Gaelic
- curracaganScottish Gaelic
- doireagainScottish Gaelic
- doireaganScottish Gaelic
- AvefríaGalician
- Galo da brañaGalician
- EairkanManx
- קוית מצויצתHebrew
- קיווית מצויצתHebrew
- Vivak pozviždačCroatian
- bíbicHungarian
- Սովորական ԿիվիվArmenian
- Trulek ErasiaIndonesian
- VepjaIcelandic
- pavoncellaItalian
- タゲリJapanese
- პრანწიაGeorgian
- ТемэнпсычэтKabardian
- Тикке мÿÿсkjh
- ҚызғышKazakh
- 댕기물떼새Korean
- Kedîkê bi kofîkKurdish
- CornwhylenCornish
- KiwitschLuxembourgish
- PiwitschLuxembourgish
- pempėLithuanian
- paprastoji pempėLithuanian
- ķīvīteLatvian
- кӱседыкMari
- калуѓеркаMacedonian
- തിത്തിരിപ്പക്ഷിMalayalam
- VenewwaMaltese
- Умардын хавтгаалж - ᠣᠮᠠᠷᠠᠲᠣ ᠶᠢᠨ ᠬᠠᠪᠲᠠᠭᠠᠯᠵᠢMongolian
- ЦибирькайErzya
- KievittLow German
- KiewittLow German
- kievitDutch
- vipeNorwegian
- Pievienrm
- OuvergnePicard
- czajkaPolish
- czajka (zwyczajna)Polish
- PavonëttaPiedmontese
- ہری ٹٹیریWestern Panjabi
- abibePortuguese
- abibe-comumPortuguese
- abibe-eurasiáticoPortuguese
- VanelRomansh
- nagâţRomanian
- NagâțRomanian
- чибисRussian
- вшивикRussian
- луговкаRussian
- пигалицаRussian
- пшик (устар.)Russian
- Чайка звычайнаRusyn
- Pauneddu nivaloruSicilian
- TeuchitScots
- VuoktaláfolNorthern Sami
- cíbik chochlatýSlovak
- pribaSlovenian
- cinjaAlbanian
- cinglaAlbanian
- gërthiulaAlbanian
- gicviljaAlbanian
- kërteingla fishkëllyeseAlbanian
- kërthilaAlbanian
- kërthinglaAlbanian
- kërthiulaAlbanian
- kiciribaAlbanian
- piskaAlbanian
- VivakSerbian
- ВивакSerbian
- Vivak - ВивакSerbian
- Lèpiri de argiolaSardinian
- KiewietSaterland Frisian
- tofsvipaSwedish
- Kiluwiluwi wa UlayaSwahili
- นกกระแตหงอนThai
- kiz kusuTurkish
- Bayağı kız kuşuTurkish
- kız kuşuTurkish
- Шына сайжиTuvinian
- СэдыкUdmurt
- ЧайкаUkrainian
- чибісUkrainian
- Звичайна чайкаUkrainian
- чайка чубатаUkrainian
- PavonzinaVenetian
- Te màoVietnamese
- 凤头麦鸡Chinese
- 小辮鴴Chinese
- 小辮鴴〔鳳頭麥雞〕Chinese
- 鳳頭麥雞Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the northern lapwing
Other species in the same genus Vanellus.
Red-wattled lapwing
Vanellus indicus
Sociable lapwing
Vanellus gregarius
White-tailed lapwing
Vanellus leucurus
Grey-headed lapwing
Vanellus cinereus
Spur-winged lapwing
Vanellus spinosus
Southern lapwing
Vanellus chilensis
CompareNorthern lapwing vs Red-wattled lapwingNorthern lapwing vs Sociable lapwingNorthern lapwing vs White-tailed lapwingNorthern lapwing vs Grey-headed lapwing
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the northern lapwing?
The northern lapwing is a bird in the family Charadriidae, order Charadriiformes. It is placed in the size class small.
How heavy is the northern lapwing?
An adult Northern lapwing has a body mass of 218.4 g, with reported values from 211 to 226 g.
What does the northern lapwing eat?
The northern lapwing is in the omnivore diet category, and its trophic level is given as carnivore.
Is the northern lapwing endangered?
No, it is listed as Near Threatened (NT) in the global IUCN assessment, which is not an IUCN threatened category.
How long does the northern lapwing live?
The northern lapwing has a lifespan of 23.6 years, with values up to 24.5 years reported.
How many eggs does the northern lapwing lay?
The northern lapwing lays 4 eggs per clutch and has 1 clutch per year, with an incubation period of 25.7 days.
What habitat does the northern lapwing use?
The northern lapwing uses wetland habitat and has a terrestrial lifestyle. It is partially migratory.
Who named the northern lapwing?
The scientific name Vanellus vanellus is attributed to (Linnaeus, 1758).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/northern-lapwing
“Northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/northern-lapwing.
@misc{northern_lapwing_2026,
title = {Northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/northern-lapwing},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}