The Woodland Park Zoo has welcomed four little cotton balls on stilts, hatched in the last week of June. These spur-winged lapwing chicks are the first ones ever to be born here!
The Spur-Wing Lapwing chicks are only a couple of inches tall – with their legs making up half that height – while their parents stand about a foot tall. The chicks current cryptic coloring allows them to blend into their surroundings to avoid predators. The birds, full-grown, also defend against predators with their ‘spur-wing’, which is a small claw hidden on the front-facing ‘elbow’ of each of their wings.
The young family of Lapwing live in the African Savanna Aviary on the east side of the Zoo, an area currently closed to the public. For the health and safety of visitors, Woodland Park has had to limit access to enclosed spaces where social distancing would be difficult – but the Lapwing need extra space while the little ones are so young!
The Zoo is currently open, by reservation, and providing care and a commitment to cleanliness to its visitors, as well as the critters under its care. Find out more, about the Lapwings (and photos of the fluffballs,) as well as visiting, at Zoo.org (click here.)