Digiscoping the African Wattled Plover (Vanellus senegallus)

African Wattled Plover Lapwing

by DaleForbes on May 8, 2011 · 0 comments

in Birding Africa

The African Wattled Plover (Lapwing)is found throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa and while it can be locally fairly common, it is typically not considered a common species. It is the largest lapwing in southern Africa and because of its crazy facial make-up always makes for a wonderful find.

Whilst in the Hartbeespoort Dam area (just west of Johannesburg), we found two African Wattled Lapwings feeding alongside the road on a grassy verge. They were quite confiding and allowed me to point my telescope out of the window and snap off a few quick digiscoping  photos of them.

All photos digiscoped with a Swarovski STM80 HD spotting scope, TLS800 adapter and a Nikon D300s DSLR.

The African Wattled Lapwing seems to prefer short moist grasslands, moving in to dryer areas to feed. Irrigated golf courses seem to be particularly good for finding them.


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Tagged as: African Wattled Lapwing, African Wattled Plover, Birding South Africa, Dale Forbes, digiscoping, lapwing, South Africa, Swarovski Optik, TLS800

Article by Dale Forbes

I have always felt at home in nature. She has always been there for me. I started birdwatching as a young kid. Then got in to ornithology. Then more conservation biology. I grew as a birder, loving it more with every day. I now work for Swarovski Optik making awesome toys for birders (product/marketing manager) and am an obsessed digiscoper. My inability to look at birds as a collection of specific ID features, seems to be a downfall which means I will never be a great birder. But I really do love it. Dale also writes a regular post at 10,000 Birds every second Tuesday.

Dale has written 64 awesome articles for us.

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