Sociable Lapwing in Doñana

On 20 January 2022, José Luis Anguita found a sociable lapwing (Vanellus gregarius) together with common lapwings in a rice field in La Puebla del Río, in the surroundings of Doñana. The bird remained in the same area until at least 30 January. We were able to observe it on 21 and 27 January.

The Sociable Lapwing is a vagrant in Spain that nests in the steppes located between southern Russia and Kazakhstan. Its usual wintering grounds are in eastern Africa (Sudan and Eritrea) and southwest Asia (Israel, Arabian Peninsula, Pakistan and northwest India). It is considered critically endangered because of its drastic decline in recent decades.

The first documented sighting in Doñana was of a specimen in January and February 1984 (Heredia, B. & Mañez, M. 1985).

In a compilation of historical records up to the year 2000 in Doñana and its surroundings (García et al., 2000), less than 10 observations are mentioned, but without specifying them.

Since then, it has been observed at least in November 2007, November 2009, February 2015 and October 2016, according to the records stored on the citizen science websites www.observado.org and www.ebird.org.

All observations to date have involved a single bird.

Bibliographic references

Heredia, B. & Mañez, M. (1985) Primera cita del chorlito social (Vanellus gregarius) en las marismas del Guadalquivir. Doñana, Acta Vertebrata, 12 (1): 182-183.

García, L. & Ibañez, Fernando & Garrido, H. & Arroyo, José & Máñez, Manuel & Calderón, J.. (2000). Prontuario de las Aves de Doñana. Anuario Ornitológico de Doñana, nº 0, Diciembre de 2000.