What Bird Is This?

[Frank97]

Good morning, as above could someone tell me what this bird is please.
http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy197/D97x7/IMG_5029.jpg
They come over every winter to the Somerset levels, but I've never been able to get close enough to one to get a pic before.
Sorry it's not a great pic, but hopefully it will be good enough.
Thanks for looking.

[Tilly2]

I'm sure it's a lapwing.

[Prudie]

It's a Lapwing (also called Peewit or Green Plover). Beautiful birds.

[Frank97]

Thanks both, that's been bugging me for ages. :-)

[murraymints]

I saw a heron just standing stock still at side of busy bypass road yesterday..is that normal behaviour ?

[ladybirder]

Yep, I agree, a Lapwing, one of the waders. It looks all floppy when it's flying - nothing else does it so easy to distinguish when in the air. It also has a very plaintive call. I used to see them on The Levels and in the Yorkshire Dales. Lovely. Have you seen Curlews as well D97?

[ladybirder]

It probably mistook the road for a river, from the air, mm:-(

[Frank97]

Yes, I think so, it was probably hunting something.

[Milvus]

The heron is probably looking for road kill, if it cannot get fish because of frozen water. Many birds not normally associated as meat eaters will turn to carrion if their normal food is hard to find

[Frank97]

No, I haven't seen the Curlews, Ladybirder, I'll have to keep my eye out. Yes, those Lapwing do make a funny sound, always sounds like a dogs squeaky toy being trodden on to me.

[Milvus]

The squeaky toy call is where the Lapwing gets it's other name from. The Peewit

[FredPuli43]

Surprised to see a lapwing as a wader. They are seen in such circumstances but that may be more to do with loss of habitat. They used to be very common on farmland here; they are ground-nesting birds; but are rarely seen now because modern farming methods mean they can no longer nest and raise young undisturbed. The only ones I see now are on the local golf course. Previously you'd see them in quite large numbers on farmland in Winter

[ladybirder]

Yes Fred I remember watching with a sinking heart, when a neighbouring farmer in the YDales levelled out and filled in a boggy field where the Lapwings and Curlews and Snipe et al used to breed. From that year on we never saw any birds nesting there. So sad. I used to go up on an April/May evening and about 10pm and listen to the Snipe drumming and the rest all calling to each other, such a cacophony, it was wonderful. It'll stay with me for the rest of my life.

[Chipchopper]

D97x7, agree with others about your lapwing pic, it's difficult to see from that angle but from side on you can normally see the distinctive crest on the top of the head.
I remember seeing a fairly large flock in a field near me, which often floods in the winter, well that was until they widened the busy A road by an extra lane. I not seen them there since. They seem to prefer to keep a good distance from humans