those of the southern lapwing of the time, except by being smaller. Though they may not be specifically distinct, the lack of this birds' occurrence out of South America on a regular basis today suggests that they may be better considered a paleosubspecies V. c. prosphatus. This would have disappeared as the last ice age ended, but biogeography suggests that the species must also have occurred in Central America and/or the Caribbean. The entirely extinct prehistoric species V. downsi is closely related to the southern lapwing found in California; its remains have been found at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. Separated by the Rocky Mountains, V. downsi makes an unlikely ancestor to the southern lapwing, but it is certainly possible that it was a northwestern sister species. Ecology This is a lapwing of lake and river banks or open grassland. It has benefited from the extension of the latter habitat through widespread cattle ranching. When nesting in the vicinity of airports, it poses a threat to the safety of aerial traffic. Its food is mainly insects (such as grasshoppers) and other small invertebrates (including earthworms and cutworms), as well as small fish, hunted using a run-and-wait technique mainly at night, often in flocks. In urban areas like Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, and La Plata it can even be seen feeding on floodlit soccer pitches during televised matches. The southern lapwing breed cooperatively in social groups that social groups consist of a breeding pair with one or two young from the previous breeding season. They breed on grassland and sometimes ploughed fields, and has an aerobatic flapping display flight. It lays 2–3 (rarely 4) olive-brown eggs in a bare ground scrape. The nest and young are defended noisily and aggressively against all intruders (including humans) by means of threats, vocalizations and low flights. After the breeding season it disperses into wetlands and seasonally-flooded tropical grassland. Gallery References Bibliography External links southern lapwing Birds of South America Birds of Argentina southern lapwing Birds of Uruguay Birds of Chile Taxa named by Juan Ignacio Molina