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Urban Red-wattled Lapwing Nests Had 70% Success Versus 90–93% Outside the City

Red-wattled lapwing standing in open habitat
Research · Reproduction & development

Red-wattled lapwings (Vanellus indicus) nesting in an urban part of Indore had lower nesting success than birds in nearby peri-urban and rural landscapes, according to a study published on 26 February 2026. Researchers monitored 45 nests from March to July 2024 across three habitat types in Madhya Pradesh, India.

Nesting success reached 93% at the peri-urban site and 90% in the rural landscape, compared with 70% at the urban site. Reproductive success followed the same general pattern, with the strongest outcomes outside the most heavily urbanised setting.

Urban birds frequently moved their nests onto rooftops

Many nests at Holkar Science College in the city were placed on rooftops and other elevated structures. The authors interpret this as a behavioural adjustment that can reduce exposure to terrestrial predators such as free-ranging dogs and mongooses.

The shift did not remove all risks. Rooftop nests were exposed to frequent human disturbance, a different set of predators and more extreme microclimatic conditions, including high surface temperatures and reduced shade. The researchers link these conditions with the lower reproductive performance recorded at the urban site.

Peri-urban habitat produced the highest nesting success

The peri-urban site at Rau combined some features of human-modified landscapes with more natural nesting conditions and produced the highest nesting success in the study. Rural nests at Jamli also performed well, with less human interference and greater opportunities for natural camouflage.

The authors describe the species as highly adaptable rather than simply favoured or harmed by urbanisation. Nesting on buildings can avoid some ground-level threats while introducing new challenges, so the outcome depends on the conditions available at each site.

Red-wattled lapwings are ground-nesting birds that increasingly breed in heavily modified landscapes. The Indore study shows that they can shift nest sites in response to urban conditions, but that this flexibility does not necessarily produce equally high breeding success. The authors recommend protecting rural and peri-urban nesting habitat, reducing disturbance and considering suitable artificial nesting platforms where birds breed in cities.

Sources and image credit

  1. Patidar, K., & Sharma, V. K. (2026). Nesting dynamics of Red-wattled Lapwing Vanellus indicus Boddaert, 1783 in urban and rural regions of Indore, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 18(2), 28378–28386. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.10146.18.2.28378-28386Primary peer-reviewed open-access article published online and in print 26 February 2026 under CC BY 4.0. Forty-five nests were monitored from March to July 2024: 20 rural, 15 peri-urban and 10 urban. Apparent nesting success was 90%, 93.33% and 70%, respectively.

Image: Nrik kiran — red-wattled lapwing (Vanellus indicus), photographed 25 April 2016; representative species image, not a bird from the Indore study. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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