Southern Lapwing

How to find it

Listen first: the loud calls usually give it away before you see it. In the northern wetlands, look in wet meadows and pastures by the lagoons, on exposed mudflats, and on grassy edges of the water. Boat trips and walks along wetland edges are where visitors often meet it. In Guanacaste Conservation Area, one observer found it at puddles and freshly ploughed wet fields. Tour groups have also recorded it near the Tárcoles River, along the La Gamba road in open farmland, and in pineapple fields near Sarapiquí. Keep your distance from nesting birds.

How to recognise it

Start with the shape: a large plover with a thin crest.

Look for these marks:

- a grey head, black face and chest

- pink legs

- a pink bill with a black tip

- bronze-green shoulders that carry small spurs

- bright red eyes, which give it an alert look

- long reddish legs that let it stride across wetlands and grassland

Both sexes look alike. In flight it shows a broad white bar across the wing, black flight feathers, a white rump and a black tail.

The birds in Costa Rica belong to the subspecies cayennensis, which has less black on the upper breast, a whiter face, and a cinnamon-brown head and neck rather than blue-grey.

What it sounds like

Recording: Camilo Segura, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It hunts by running a few steps, stopping, then pecking. It sometimes stirs the soil with its feet to feel for worms beneath, then pulls them out with its bill.

It defends its nest hard. Pairs or trios stand guard: one adult stays on the ground with the young while the other flies at the threat and strikes with its wing spurs. A Costa Rican golf course guide calls it highly territorial.

It calls at the slightest disturbance, and a lodge in the northern wetlands notes that its loud calls often warn of other wildlife nearby.

Where it lives

Across its range it is common in open country such as pastures, river plains, open marsh and the edges of rivers and lakes, usually near water. It sometimes uses open forest clearings or town gardens.

In Costa Rica a bird-watching site says it lives on both coasts, in short-grass areas that are usually near water. It has been photographed in the mangroves along the Tárcoles River and in San José province, and recorded in Guanacaste, the south Pacific and the northern lowlands.

When to see it

A lodge in the northern wetlands says the lapwing can be seen there all year. Sightings are especially common in the dry season, December to April, when falling water exposes wide mudflats and pastures.

Similar birds

The Costa Rican subspecies differs from the southern birds of the species. It shows less black on the upper breast, a whiter face, and a cinnamon-brown head and neck rather than blue-grey. Some authorities treat the northern subspecies as a separate species, Vanellus cayennensis.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The official Spanish name is Chorlitazo Sureño, often given with Avefría as a second name. Other countries use Tero, Queltehue or Alcaraván, so Costa Rican guides may use Tero Común. A lodge in the northern wetlands says locals call it Tero Común, and nicknames it the "guardians of the grasslands" because it sounds the alarm so readily.

Status and conservation

The Costa Rican bird list codes it R, meaning resident, and it is rated Least Concern globally.

Photography tips

On a small sandbar in the Tárcoles River, the birds squawked at a photographer in a boat, and the photo was taken at 1/2000 sec with a 500 mm lens. The bronze and green sheen on the wings shows best in sunlight. A golf course guide warns it will try to scare you off if you come too close, so keep your distance.