#0869 · 🐦 birds

White-tailed Lapwing

🇳🇱 Witstaartkievit ·Vanellus leucurus

LCleast concern 🐦 Birds 📍 in the Netherlands

8 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

what is it?

The white-tailed lapwing or white-tailed plover ( Vanellus leucurus ) is a wader in the lapwing genus. The genus name Vanellus is Medieval Latin for a lapwing and derives from vannus a winnowing fan. The specific leucurus is from Ancient Greek leukouros , "white-tailed".

base stats

NL sightings 9iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 899iNaturalist observations
threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

Spotted 9 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist.
899 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named by Hinrich Lichtenstein in 1823 (203 years ago).

fact sheet

English: White-tailed Lapwing
Nederlands: Witstaartkievit
scientific name: Vanellus leucurus
class: Aves
order: Charadriiformes
family: Charadriidae
IUCN Red List: LC · least concern
sightings in NL: 9
sightings in Europe: 198
sightings worldwide: 899
GBIF records in NL: 931
weight: —
length: —
lifespan: —
named: 1823 by Hinrich Lichtenstein

IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.

relatives· Charadriidae

Sources: iNaturalist taxon 4860, Wikidata Q827245, GBIF 5229147, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.