The southern lapwing, commonly called quero-quero in Brazil, or tero in Argentina and Uruguay, tero-tero in Paraguay, and queltehue in Chile is a wader in the order Charadriiformes. It is a common and widespread resident throughout South America, except in densely forested regions, the higher parts of the Andes, and the arid coast of a large part of western South America. This bird is particularly common in the basin of the Río de la Plata. It has also been spreading through Central America in recent years. It reached Trinidad in 1961, Tobago in 1974, and has rapidly increased on both islands, sporadically making its way North to Barbados where one pair mated, nested, and produced chicks in 2007. There have been sightings reported in North America with a verified sighting of a bird in Texas posted on Birda on the 17th April 2024.
Region
South America (expanding into Central America and Trinidad & Tobago)
Typical Environment
Occupies open habitats including grasslands, pampas, savannas, wetlands, river margins, and agricultural fields. Common in human-modified landscapes such as grazed pastures, city parks, golf courses, and airfields. Avoids dense forests, the highest Andean zones, and long stretches of hyper-arid coastline. Particularly abundant around the Río de la Plata basin. In recent decades it has spread north through parts of Central America and colonized Trinidad and Tobago, with occasional vagrants reaching the Caribbean and southern North America.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 2500 m
Climate Zone
Other
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
Southern lapwings are famously loud guardians of open spaces, giving piercing alarm calls and aggressively mobbing intruders near their nests. They have sharp carpal spurs on their wings used in threat displays and defense. Highly adaptable, they thrive in pastures, urban parks, soccer fields, and airstrips, and often feed at night under artificial lights.
Southern Lapwing observed in Indaiatuba, SP, Brazil.
Temperament
bold and territorial
Flight Pattern
strong flier with steady, shallow wingbeats and agile swoops
Social Behavior
Often seen in pairs during breeding, defending open ground nests scraped on the ground. Both parents incubate and perform distraction displays and mobbing to deter threats. Outside the breeding season they may form loose flocks and roost communally on open flats.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Loud, metallic, and repeated calls, often rendered as a sharp 'kwee-wee-wee' or 'teró-teró'. Vocal both day and night, especially when alarmed, with persistent, far-carrying alarms over open landscapes.
