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Spur-winged Lapwings are medium-sized waders. Their plumage is mostly black and white, with grey wings. The cap, nape of the neck, a stripe down the middle of the chest and the belly are all black, while the sides of head and neck, the vent and undertail coverts and the rump are white. Also the inner parts of the underwings are white, while the flight feathers are black. The uppertail is also black. In flight, the upperwing shows a white bar between black flight feathers and grey coverts. The irises are dark-red. The straight bill and the legs and feet are all black. Juvenile birds have scaly grey-brown cap, chin and wing coverts, but otherwise resemble adults.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Spur-winged Lapwing is available HERE .

The Spur-winged Lapwing is partly sedentary in northern Africa (the Nile delta) and parts of Israel/Jordan, while elsewhere it is found as a breeding migrant. There is also a permanent population in sub-Saharan Africa, which is also the wintering ground for migratory birds. Spur-winged Lapwings are found in both western Africa and in the East of the continent, as far to the South as northern Tanzania. Migrantory Spur-winged Lapwings breed around the coastlines of the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, in much of Asia Minor and in the Euphrates/Tigris river system.

According to field guides, in Europe Spur-winged Lapwings are found only as breeding migrants to some Greek islands and the eastern Greek coastline, nowhere else. However, there has also been one confirmed sighting in central Poland in October 2017.

Spur-winged Lapwings have a preference for habitats with open areas, either sand, clay or rock, possibly with short grass, often near water (including saline water), where they also nest in a scrape.

We have not seen a Spur-winged Lapwing in Europe yet. The photos shown below were taken in Egypt. All photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by M. Eaton.