Directions & Map to NORTHERN LAPWING in Storrs, CT

Take I-84 East from Hartford, Exit 68. Route 195 , Travel south (right off ramp) for about 6.5 miles. Lot W will be on your right,before you see any campus signs, behind the barns and “visitor center.” Bird was seen in large cornfield next to W Lot with a flock of Killdeer.

Stay on 195 heading north through campus. Make a left turn on Horsebarn Hill Rd, Lot W is past the Rosebrooks Barn. It is the field behind the red barn on the right. Look for all the cars and birders!

For your GPS units:  Laurel Way, Storrs, CT 06269

Here is a map of the bird’s 3 favorite spots from today. Click on the blue pegs for more info on each spot including the bird’s habits at each location.

Map locations are courtesy of Nick Bonomo of Shorebirder See Photos.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&ll=41.819048,-72.252831&spn=0.015672,0.038581&t=h&z=15&msid=1105458305683768538
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The Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus), also known as the Peewit, Green Plover or (in the British Isles) just Lapwing, is a bird in the plover family. It is common through temperateEurasia. It is highly migratory over most of its extensive range, wintering further south as far as north Africa, northern India, Pakistan, and parts of China. It migrates mainly by day, often in large flocks. Lowland breeders in westernmost areas of Europe are resident. It occasionally is a vagrant to North America, especially after storms, as in the Canadiansightings after storms in December 1927 and in January 1966.^[1]

It is a wader which breeds on cultivated land and other short vegetation habitats. 3–4 eggs are laid in a ground scrape. The nest and young are defended noisily and aggressively against all intruders, up to and including horses and cattle. In winter it forms huge flocks on open land, particularly arable land and mud-flats.
Description
This lapwing is a 28–31 cm long bird with a 67–72 cm wingspan, It has rounded wings and a crest. It is the shortest-legged of the lapwings. It is mainly black and white, but the back is tinted green. Females and young birds have narrower wings, and have less strongly-marked heads, but plumages are otherwise quite similar.

The name lapwing has been variously attributed to the “lapping” sound its wings make in flight, from the irregular progress in flight due to its large wings (OED derives this from an Old English word meaning “to totter”), or from its habit of drawing potential predators away from its nest by trailing a wing as if broken. Peewit describes the bird’s shrill call. This is a vocal bird in the breeding season, with constant calling as the crazed tumbling display flight is performed by the male.

It feeds primarily on mainly insects and other small invertebrates. This species often feeds in mixed flocks with Golden Plovers and Black-headed Gulls, the latter often robbing the two plovers, but providing a degree of protection against predators. Like the Golden Plovers, this species prefers to feed nocturnally when there are moonlit nights.
The Northern Lapwing is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.