The Story
I made this photo of a Southern Lapwing (Vanellus chilensis) at Reserva Natural El Encanto de Guanapalo in Casanare, Colombia. The Southern Lapwing has red bony spurs at the bend of the wings, used to intimidate rivals and fight off birds of prey. Its call is a very loud, harsh keek-keek-keek. It has benefited from the spread of cattle ranching. El Encanto de Guanapalo brings together three ranches, Mata de Palma, Altamira and Montana, in a reserve of almost 9,000 hectares of flooded savanna and gallery forest in San Luis de Palenque. IUCN lists the Southern Lapwing as Least Concern, with an increasing population.
I used a Pentax K-1 with a 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 lens for this one, at 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100. El Encanto de Guanapalo pays for its conservation through traditional cattle ranching, ecotourism and carbon credits, using the Cataruben Foundation’s Co2Bio model.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Southern Lapwing (Vanellus chilensis) belongs to the family Charadriidae (Plovers and Lapwings) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2020), with the population trend listed as increasing. Source: IUCN Red List
