The Northern Lapwing is a widely recognized and beloved bird species that nests throughout Europe. It inhabits open landscapes without any concealment, easily attracting attention with its elegant black-and-white plumage and metallic sheen. Particularly in the more vividly colored males, the deep black breast stands out above the white belly, and the snow-white face is topped by a crest of thin black feathers that can reach up to ten centimeters in height. The plaintive calls of males, which accompany their acrobatic flights over fields, meadows, and wetlands in an attempt to attract females to their territories, have long been an inseparable part of springtime nature. Indeed, the presence of lapwings was humorously noted by the well-known priest and writer Bohuslav Balbín in his 17th-century writings, stating, “it calls book, book, but never reads any.”
With the intensification of agriculture in Europe during the 20th century, the number of nesting lapwings dramatically decreased, and this decline also affected the Czech Republic. The lapwings’ willingness to shift most of their nesting sites from disappearing meadows and wetlands to cultivated fields did little to help. This shift began in Western Europe in the 1920s and occurred in the Czech Republic approximately two decades later. Thus, the meadow wader became a bird of intensively farmed fields, which brought additional risks.
Extensive and thorough land drainage, drying of wetlands, plowing of meadows, increasing chemical use, and heavy machinery have taken a heavy toll. The loss of rich food sources, particularly earthworms and other invertebrates that enliven the soil surface, the encroachment of wet areas, and the promotion of dense growth of all kinds have caused lapwings to lose most of their suitable nesting sites, leading to a population decline in the Czech Republic to only a few thousand pairs. In the remaining nesting sites, we can now observe either only single pairs or, less frequently, larger nesting groups. These groups are very important for lapwings as they allow for more effective collective defense against avian intruders, such as crows, marsh harriers, or harriers, who may be tempted by the delicious lapwing eggs.
From the end of March to May, and sometimes even until June, we can observe lapwings sitting on nests in the surviving nesting sites, and later, in the more successful cases, leading their chicks. A complete clutch usually consists of four eggs, which the parents incubate for 25-27 days. Once hatched and dried, the chicks quickly leave the nest and embark on a difficult journey, accompanied by their parents, in search of water and food that lasts more than a month. All the dangers that threaten lapwings during this critical period from nest establishment to the fledging of chicks can be revealed by the technique we employ...
