The Red-Wattled Lapwing (Vanellus indicus) is large
plover, It has characteristic loud alarm
calls. In Sinhala it is known as “කිරලා”. The wings and back are light brown with a purple sheen, but head and
chest and front part of neck are black. Prominently white patch runs between
these two colours, from belly and tail, flanking the neck to the sides of
crown. Short tail is tipped black. A red fleshy wattle in front of each eye,
black-tipped red bill, and the long legs are yellow. In flight, prominent white
wing bars formed by the white on the secondary coverts.
The Sri Lankan race lankae is smaller and dark. Males
and females are similar in plumage. It usually keeps in pairs or trios in
well-watered open country, ploughed fields, grazing land, and margins and dry
beds of tanks and puddles. The eggs are laid in a ground scrape or depression
sometimes fringed with pebbles (Wikipedia)
