Southern lapwing courtesy of Wikipedia

I’m afraid there will be few posts from me for a while since I’m banished or perhaps outsourced to California for a few months.  I do want to report, however, my first Costa Rican sighting of the Southern lapwing (Vanellus chilensis).  It’s not a rare bird here by any means, at least not nowadays, but it was a real thrill for me to see it because it brought back vivid memories of the peewits of my boyhood in South Yorkshire.  The peewit, simply called the Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) in England, was (and I’m sure still is) found in large numbers in the fields around Rotherham and close to what were Earl Fitzwilliam’s estates near Wentworth.  Here’s a photo for comparison:

The common Lapwing seen in England

Here’s another Lapwing, this time in Holland; photo courtesy of Karel Straatman

I had already seen the Southern lapwing  close to Sixaola, but just over the border in Panama, so I knew it was a possibility for our area.  This time I saw just a single bird on the big lawn in front of Casa Turire down by the Angostura dam.  I  even managed to get a couple of photos, but the quality is so dismal that I cannot really use them here.  I am grateful to Wikipedia for the substitute photo but perhaps I can get a shot taken in Costa Rica by some enterprising birder.  Any offers?