As I hung the wet laundry out on my veranda to dry this bright but cold morning, I heard the unmistakeable "keek!" "keek!" (my rendition) of Grey- headed Lapwings from the now barren rice fields below. Of course, these birds are very well camouflaged in grey when viewed from above, and so I couldn't spot them until they briefly fluttered up and away when a solitary Jungle Crow flew down to investigate them. Once they flew, their brilliant white wings and body, and black necklace, revealed them indeed to be Grey-headed Lapwings.
When the crow returned to his perch on a lamppost, the Lapwings resumed their grazing in the grassy banks bordering the clayey soil of the dry, empty rice field.
I love seeing, and hearing, Lapwings, and they come here only in winter, and even then only sporadically. I most often hear them calling to each other at night -- rarely in daytime.
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