Sociable lapwing, Vanellus gregarius

Amazing sighting!

Incredible! I've never heard of this species before, had no idea any Vanellus were endangered.

~Thylo

@amur leopard @ThylacineAlive thanks! For most Western European birders this species, definitely in adult plumage like this one, is pretty much the holy grail of all waders - the combination of absolutely stunning looks and extreme rarity. My pictures don't do it justice but they have an absolutely stunning gradient on their underparts and a very strong buff/white mask. The last sociable lapwing in Belgium was in 2012, so well before I was a birder.

This bird was found on the 30th June by a local birder near Utphe, Germany and many German birders will have seen it in the first few days, but for some reason the news on broader news sites that I follow only broke a few days later, so I was very glad to see it still present when I got there on the 4th of July! This is by far the furthest I've driven for a single bird (4,5 hours), but I went together with a friend and we managed to get a bunch of other good animals in Germany as well, grey-headed woodpecker, edible dormouse and bee-eater probably the best of them!

I didn't know they were CR
They are stunning birds though, I'd like to see one one day...