சிவப்பு மூக்கு ஆள்காட்டி ~ Red Wattled Lapwing

 

Just like every other common person – I can easily recognize (among birds) – Crows, Pigeons, Parrots, Mynah .. .. !!  - so this little bird was intriguing and Google photo search named it !!!! 

The one photographed here are reportedly ground birds,  active at night too.  They are known to be territorial and will dive and call noisily at potential predators, including aircraft.  Though small ones, they are   categorized as a high-risk species for bird strikes to aircrafts, meaning they pose a significant threat to aircraft safety.   What ! such a little one, can it pose some damage to that mega big aluminum bird ! 

It is Lapwing – belonging to the subfamily Vanellinae; it is among the various ground-nesting birds (hailing from family Charadriidae) similar to plovers and dotterels. Their length stretches from 10 to 16 inches, well-recognized for its slow, noncontinuous wingbeats in flight and a shrill, and a wailing cry.

 

சிவப்பு மூக்கு ஆள்காட்டி [Red Wattled Lapwing] எனப்படும் பறவை. தமிழில் சிவப்பு மூக்கு ஆள்காட்டி அல்லது ஆள்காட்டி குருவி என்று அழைக்கப்படுகிறது. இந்த பறவை மனிதர்களையோ அல்லது எதிரிகளையோ கண்டால் உரத்த குரலில் ஒலி எழுப்பி எச்சரிக்கும் இயல்புடையது. அதனால் ஆள்காட்டி என்ற பெயர். இந்த பறவை தரையில் முட்டையிட்டு அடைகாக்கும்.  

The red-wattled lapwing (Vanellus indicus) is an Asian lapwing or large plover, a wader in the family Charadriidae. Like other lapwings they are ground birds that are incapable of perching. Their characteristic loud alarm calls are indicators of human or animal movements and the sounds are variously rendered, leading to the colloquial name of did-he-do-it bird. Usually seen in pairs or small groups not far from water, they sometimes form large aggregations in the non-breeding season (winter). They nest in a ground scrape laying three to four camouflaged eggs. Adults near the nest fly around, diving at potential predators while calling noisily. The cryptically patterned chicks hatch and immediately follow their parents to feed, hiding by lying low on the ground or in the grass when threatened. 

Traditionally well known to native hunters, the red-wattled lapwing was first described in a book by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux in 1781.  The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text.  Neither the plate nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert used the binomial name Tringa indica in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées.  It is a diminutive of the Latin vanus meaning "winnowing" or "fan". The specific epithet indicus is the Latin for "India". 

The local names are mainly onomatopoeic in origin and include titahri (Hindi), titawi (Marathi), tittibha (Kannada), tateehar (Sindhi), titodi (Gujarati), hatatut (Kashmiri), balighora (Assamese), yennappa chitawa (Telugu), aal-kaati (Tamil, meaning "human indicator"). 

In parts of India, a local belief is that the bird sleeps on its back with the legs upwards and an associated Hindi metaphor Titahri se asman thama jayega ("can the lapwing support the heavens?") is used to refer to persons undertaking tasks beyond their ability or strength. The Bhils of Malwa believed that the laying of eggs by red-wattled lapwings in the dry beds of streams as forewarnings of delayed rains or droughts. Eggs laid on the banks on the other hand were taken as indications of normal rains.

 
Interesting !
 
Regards – S Sampathkumar
31.7.2025