Southern Lapwing (Vanellus chilensis)

OTHER NAMES: Quero-quero
Latin Etymology: Vanellus ("lapwing") chilensis ("of Chile")

 

Southern Lapwing (Vanellus chilensis) at San Jose, Costa Rica - November 2025

Featured Subspecies: Vanellus chilensis cayennensis
Weight: 250-425g  /  Length: 32-38cm  /  Wingspan: ?
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

An extremely widespread wader of the Neotropics, found from Nicaragua to Patagonia and largely only missing from the interior of the Amazon, deserts and the Andes. Like some other members of the lapwing family, it possesses bony spurs on its forewings to intimidate potential predators. The taxon found in Costa Rica is considered a potential future split.
 
Related Species: 
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Charadriidae
Genus: Vanellus
SUBSPECIES: V. c. fretensis, V. c. chilensis, V. c. cayennensis, V. c. lampronotus 
 
- Sighting Locations -

COSTA RICA - Spanish - Tero
A widespread resident
- COSTA RICA 2025 TRIP: Seen at Tarcoles and San Jose

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Pheasant-tailed Jacana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Hydrophasianus ("water pheasant") chirurgus ("surgeon")

Two non-breeding Pheasant-tailed Jacana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus) at Phnom Krom, Cambodia - February 2019

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 113-135g  /  Length: 39-58cm  /  Wingspan: 63-68cm
ABSENT FROM UK / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

The jacanas are a small unique group of waders characterised by having enormous feet which they use to live their lives based around floating vegetation such as lillies.  Amongst the eight species, the pheasant-tailed is a bit of an oddity - it's the only one to have a specific breeding plumage (including the namesake pheasant-tail) and the only one to migrate.  Given they seemed to favour the cover of lotus fields, they flushed very easily from a distance.  They are also an unusual example of a polyandrous species, where the female may mate with multiple males throughout the breeding season and leave them to do the incubating and raising of the chicks.

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Jacanidae
Genus: Hydrophasianus
SUBSPECIES: none - monotypic 

 - Sighting Locations -

CAMBODIA - Khmer name: ព្រហីតស ("Jacana")

Locally common resident

SINGAPORE / CAMBODIA 2019 TRIP - Numerous at Phnom Krom

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto .