Studies of less familiar birds 132. Spur-winged Plover

Studies of less familiar birds 132. Spur-winged Plover By 1. J. Ferguson-Lees Photographs by D. A. P. Cooke, Harold Piatt, Eric Hosking and Use Makatsch (Plates 9-12) THE SPUR-WINGED PLOVER Hop lop terns spinosus is one of a number of round-winged plovers with much black and white in the plumage (notably on the wings and tail), which are now generally united in the genus Vanellus. Most of this group differ from other plovers in having crests and at least rudimentary wing-spurs, while some also have facial wattles. Apart from the Lapwing Vanellus vanellus, the majority are African, though some are found exclusively in southern Asia. The Spur-wing's main range is from southern Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Egypt southwards through eastern Africa to the Equator and westwards across tropical Africa south of the Sahara to Senegal. Along with the Palm Dove Streptopelia senegalensis, Isabelline Wheatear Oenanthe isabellina and Ashy-headed Bunting Emberi^a cinerea, however, it has also recently been found nesting regularly in south-east Europe. Current editions of the Field Guide say that this species occurs in north-east Greece and European Turkey, 'where it may breed'. This last statement, first published in 1954, was based on the fact that there had been occasional records of Spur-winged Plovers in the south-east Balkans since way back in the nineteenth century. Most had been in spring and were probably migrants which had overshot their range but continued... 47

BRITISH BIRDS over the years they included enough in the summer (and odd ones through to October) to raise a suspicion of nesting. The nearest places where breeding is known to have taken place are Asiatic Turkey (doubtless regularly, though there seems only one authenticated record as long ago as 1913) and Cyprus (intermittently, but now usually shot). Then suspicion grew into near certainty in the 1950's when there was a scattering of observations in the extreme north-east of Greece (Thrace), chiefly at Porto Lago and on the delta of the Evros, where Watson (1961) collected four Spur-winged Plovers with enlarged gonads and saw three or four others in late March and early April 1954. Finally, on 4th May i960 this same ornithologist found a nest with four eggs at Porto Lago; only eight days later Bauer (i960) located an incomplete clutch of two eggs in the estuary of the Gallikos on the Gulf of Salonika well over a hundred miles further west; and soon afterwards, still in May i960, Raines (1962) recorded another nest with four eggs at Porto Lago (exact date not published, but during the i4th-22nd). That year saw a total of three or four pairs at Porto Lago (Austin, Raines), four pairs some 40 miles to the west on the delta of the Nestos (Raines) and the birds at Gallikos (Bauer). The next year, 1961, Raines and his companions found only two pairs on the Nestos delta owing to flooding, but no less than eight at Porto Lago and five on the Evros delta: three nests were found at Porto Lago and one of these is that which appears on plates 9 and 10 (see also plate 12a). In 1961, too, Makatsch (1962) located the species in another part of the Gulf of Salonika, where plates 1 ib and 12b were taken, and since then the bird has gone from strength to strength. In 1962, for example, there were at least 19 pairs on the Nestos delta (Helversen 1962) and there are now two clearly established breeding zones, one between the deltas of the Nestos and the Evros (including Porto Lago and several other sites) and the other in the Gulf of Salonika (the estuaries of the rivers Gallikos, Axios and Aliakmon). In Africa, and perhaps the Middle East, the species is resident, but it is proving a summer-visitor to Europe, mainly during March-August. Is this a new colonisation or have these birds been overlooked in the past? Certainly more ornithologists have been visiting Greece in recent years, but this is a very conspicuous species with strikingly contrasted black and white head and under-parts and much black in the wings and tail in flight; it is also even more noisy and demonstrative PLATE 9. Spur-winged Plovers Hoplopterus spinosus at nest, Greece, May 1961. This wader has bred in Greece since i960 and these are among the first European photos. The lower bird is settling on the eggs and the feathers oyer the brood patches are erect (pages 47-51) (photos: Harold Piatt and D, A. P. Cooke)

SPUR-WINGED PLOVER STUDIES in the breeding season than the Lapwing. Odd pairs may well have bred in Greece in the past, but these concentrations in Thrace and Macedonia are surely a development of the last decade and the evident build-up in numbers supports this. Also, whereas Bannerman and Bannerman (1958) believed the species to be 'an increasingly rare visitor to Cyprus', the activities of the Cyprus Ornithological Society since 1957 have shown that in recent years 'small numbers occur regularly around inland waters' between March and May (Bulletin 15, 1964: 2j). At the same time a pair and a single bird at Lake Mandra near Burgas in Bulgaria provided the first records for the present boundaries of that country (Hanzak 1962, Donchev 1964); these evidently did not breed, however, because the British expedition there that year (Mountfort and Ferguson-Lees 1961) could find no trace of them in late May and early June. If collectors of eggs and skins will give these birds a chance and I have included localities here only because they have all already appeared in print there seems no reason why this strikingly handsome species should not build up a reasonable population in what is left of suitable habitats in the Balkans. Three habitats are shown on plate 12. In Greece and the Middle East this is a bird of sand, mud or marsh near open water, often with a low growth of Salhornia, Juncus and other vegetation, but elsewhere it also breeds in young crops. It is sometimes stated to be a freshwater species, but at least in these northern parts of its range it seems to be more associated with a low salinity. In Greece Raines found it occupying a brackish zone between the saline Avocet Recurpirostra avosetta and the freshwater Lapwing and it appeared to be occupying a similar niche in Jordan where in 1963 we found some eight pairs at the large saline oasis of Azraq. The nest is a simple scrape in mud or sand, usually rather scantily lined with pieces of grass, rush, wood, shell, dung or other materials from near-by, but such nests as that on plate 11b and two of those reported by Raines show that, as in the case of the Lapwing, these accumulations may sometimes be more substantial. As with most other plovers the normal clutch is four, but both three and five have been recorded and the species may possibly be doublebrooded (e.g. Bannerman and Bannerman 1958): the eggs (best seen on plate 9) are not unlike those of the Lapwing, yellowish-brown or stone to greenish, thickly spotted and blotched with black or dark brown, but they are noticeably smaller: Bauer quoted E. Hartert's PLATE I 2. Nesting areas of Spur-winged Plovers tioplopterus spinosus. Top, that of plates 9-10 in north-east Greece {photo; Harold Platl and D. A. P. Cooke). Centre, that of plate 1 ib, also Greece but further west (photo: Use Makatsch). Bottom, that of plate 11a, a muddy islet in a Jordan marsh {photo: Eric Hashing)

BRITISH BIRDS Die Vogel der Paldarktischen Fauna (1910-38) to the effect that 30 eggs averaged 40.28 x 28.5 5, while The Handbook'!: average for 100 Lapwing eggs is 47.09 x 33.71. There was a gap of two days between the laying of the third and fourth eggs in the Jordan nest on plates 1 ib and 12c and, like the Lapwing, this species may regularly lay on alternate days. The literature on the Spur-winged Plover has increased to a significant extent since the discovery of the breeding population in Greece. Apart from the papers already mentioned, Helversen (1963) published a short study of behaviour and breeding biology (illustrated with sketches and photographs) which suggested significant differences from the Lapwing, in which case there might have been grounds for the retention of the genus Hoplopterus. However, Stiefel (1964) has pointed out that each supposedly characteristic posture or action described by Helversen has a parallel in the more familiar species. The male Spur-winged Plover takes a larger share in incubation than does the male Lapwing, as one might expect with a species which nests in hotter climates, and Crossley (1964) has recently drawn attention to the wetting of the under-parts before the change-over as a means of correcting for either humidity or temperature. Another method of apparent cooling is shown on plate 10a where the bird concerned is balancing on its tarsi so that its body is clear of the eggs, thus casting a shadow and allowing a slight draught; this was a regular attitude at this particular nest at mid-day when the sun was hottest. The characteristic gait and striking plumage of the Spur-winged Plover are commented on in the captions to plates 10 and n. The colours and field-characters in general speak for themselves in these photographs, but it should be added that the species is slightly smaller than a Lapwing and that in flight the undersides of the wings show a striking contrast between black primaries and white coverts. The species is particularly noisy when approached on its breeding grounds and its main call is a loud ^ic-^ac-^ac. REFERENCES BANNERMAN, D. A. and W. M. (1958): Birds of Cyprus. Edinburgh and London. pp. 518-320. BAUER, W. (1960): 'Der Spornkicbitz {Hoplopterus spinosus) Brutvogel in Europa'. Die Vogelmelt, 81: 65-68. CROSSLEY, R. (1964): 'Spur-winged Plovers wetting their feathers before incubating'. Brit. Birds, 57: 515-516. DONCHEV, S. (1964): ['On the distribution of some new and rare birds in Bulgaria'.] /. Zool. Inst. Bulgarian Acad. Sci., 15. [In Bulgarian.] HANZAK, J. (1962): 'Der Spornkiebitz {Hoplopterus spinosus L.) erstrnalig in Bulgarien'. /. Ortt., 103: 490-491. HELVERSEN, O. V. (1962): 'Zur Verbreitung des Spornkiebitzes in Nordost-Griechenland'. /. Orn., 103: 491. 5

SPUR-WINGED PLOVER STUDIES (1963): 'Beobachtungen zum Verhalten und zur Brutbiologie des Spornkiebitzes (Hoplcpterus spinosus)'. J. Orn., 104: 89-96. MAKATSCH, W. (1962): 'Einige Beobachtungen am Brutplatz des Spornkiebitzes (Hoplopferus spinosus)''. J. Orn., 103: 219-228. MOUNTFORT, G., and FERGUSON-LEES, I. J. (1961): 'Observations on the birds of Bulgaria'. Ibis, 103a: 443-471. RAINES, R. J. (1962): 'The distribution of birds in northeast Greece in summer'. Ibis, 104: 490-502.. STIEFEL, A. (1964): 'Vergleichende Betrachtungen zu Verhaltensahnlichkeiten von Kiebitz (Vanellus vanellus) und Spomkiebitz (Hoplopferus spinosus)'. J. Orn., 105: 468-474. WATSON, G. E. (1961): 'Aegean bird notes, including two breeding records new to Europe'. /. Orn., 102: 301-307. 51

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PLATE I o. Spur-winged Plovers Hoplopterus spinosus, Greece, May 1961. Above, the bird is balancing on its tarsi over the nest in the mid-day heat so that the eggs are in shadow and exposed to a slight draught (page 50). Below, approaching the nest and eggs with characteristic gait {photos: Harold Piatt and D. A. P. Cooke)

PLATE I I. Above, Spur-winged Plover Hoplopterus spinosus, Jordan, April 1963 (photo: Eric Hosking). Below, another Greek nest, May 1961 (photo: Use Makafsch). All these plates show the simple but striking pattern of black, white and sandybrown, the drooping scapulars and the longish legs of this Lapwing-like species