Even if you’re not on Twitter, you can follow the exciting adventures of Dinara. This female Sociable Lapwing (Vanellus gregarius) is one among nine birds that have been fitted with state-of-the-art satellite tags by scientists at the Sociable Lapwing Project, a collaborative effort by BirdLife International, Swarovski and The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Thanks to ‘The Amazing Journey’ – the popular face of this project – internet users can follow, real time, the migratory movements of these birds. The tags have revealed that these nine Sociable Lapwings, which breed in Kazakhstan, overwinter in places as far apart as Saudi Arabia and India. Dinara herself was at the Little Rann of Kutch over the new year. Learn more about the life of one of the planet’s rarest birds at The Amazing Journey. And if you live close to Ahmedabad, keep an eye out for Dinara.
Check out Sociable Lapwing data on MigrantWatch, and add your sightings!
3 responses to “The Sociable Network”
Dinara and the project seem really fascinating.
Kindly excuse the PJ, but “Sociable” seems to be a misnomer! 🙁 I was really dejected at not being able to spot even one Sociable Lapwing when in Gujarat a little while ago! The Red-wattled Lapwings were predictably everywhere, though.
I have recently seen at least 2 pairs of this bird sociable Lapwing at a place by name Mangrul 20 km from Nagpur (M.S.) about a month ago. I did not know that its too rare and declared endangered across the world. Pl go through my facebook profile for images. Would like to share more information with anybody interested and work for the cause of birds conservation or bird watching.
I contacted Mr. S.P.Agnihotri via facebook and inquired about the Sociable Lapwing photos which he has mentioned.
But, he said that, those birds were Indian Coursers and not the Sociable Lapwings. It was misidentified by one of his enthusiastic birder friends (I wish he was right!).
So the above record can be neglected.