Yellow-wattled Lapwing

The yellow-wattled lapwing is a medium-sized, pale brown lapwing, 26–28cm long, with a black crown separated from the brown neck by a narrow white band, large yellow wattles at the base of the bill and yellow legs. The chin and throat are black, and a thin blackish line divides the brown breast from the white belly. It shows a white bar on the inner wing and a black band near the tip of the tail, and has tiny yellow spurs at the bend of the wing. It has no subspecies, but birds get larger from south to north (Wikipedia, general species account).

It lives on dry, stony open grassland and scrub, in drier country than the red-wattled lapwing, and is fast in flight with a sharp call. It does not migrate but moves locally in response to the monsoon rains. Like other lapwings it nests on the ground, laying well-camouflaged eggs in a scatter of tiny pebbles, and the chicks leave the nest soon after hatching to follow their parents. SoIB 2023 treats it as endemic to the Indian subcontinent and resident, estimates a long-term decline of about 41% with a stable current trend, and rates it a Low conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).