Ghantoot Polo Club, Abu Dhabi
November 2010

The Sociable Lapwing breeds in south central Russia and Kazakhstan and migrates in the winter to the Horn of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula , Pakistan and north-west India. It breeds on steppes and dry wasteland and winters on similar dry open spaces.

These photos are very poor but I include them because of the rarity of this species which is classified as Critical by Birdlife International. They were taken at the Ghantoot Polo Club and we couldn't get very close to the bird.

In breeding plumage it has a bold white supercilium and a dark stripe through the lores as well as a chestnut-black belly. In the non-breeding plumage shown here, the belly patch disappears and the supercilium is less distinct as the lores become paler.