Species Fact Profile: Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles)

Masked Lapwing

Vanellus miles (Boddaert, 1783)

Range: New Guinea, Australia and Tasmania, New Zealand
Habitat: Wetlands, Beaches, Grasslands
Diet: Insects and other invertebrates, seeds, leaves
Social Grouping: Pairs, Small Flocks
Reproduction: Breed mostly year round.  Long-term monogamous pairs.  Both sexes build a simple scrape nest in open ground, care for the 3-5 brown/yellow mottled eggs for the 28-30 day incubation period.  Chicks are capable of leaving the nest and feeding themselves within hours of hatching.
Lifespan: 15 Years +
Conservation Status: IUCN Least Concern

• Largest member of the plover and lapwing family.  Body length 30-37 centimeters, wingspan 75-85 centimeters, weight 230-400 grams.
• Plumage is primarily white on undersides with brown wings and back and a black crown and (in the southern subspecies) collar.  The long, slender legs are red.  A pair of large yellow wattles covers the face, the origin of the common name.  Sexes look alike with no seasonal variation.  Juveniles resemble adults, but tend to have darker plumage on their wings and back
• On the wrist of each wing is a thorn-like spur, yellow and tipped with black.  The spur of the male is larger than that of the female.  The spur is used in defense.  There is a traditional local belief that the spur can inject venom, but this is false 
• Both sexes defend the nest site, dive-bombing intruders.  They may also build and defend decoy nests.  If this does not work, a parent may feign an injury and limp off, attempting to lure the predator away from the nest.  Their refusal to move in the face of danger, coupled with their willingness to build their nests in very open areas, has made them a recurring hazard at airfields
• Some birds in urban or suburban areas may never breed successfully because they spend all of their time defending themselves and their nest sites against real or perceived threats, such as people, cars, and domestic pets.
• There are two commonly recognized subspecies: the nominate, or northern, which is smaller and has a pure-white neck, and the southern (V. m. novaehollandiae), which is significantly larger, has smaller wattles, and has a black stripe on the neck.  The  northern birds are sometimes called spur-winged plovers, not to be confused with an African lapwing of the same name, (V. spinosus).  The two subspecies intergrade in northern Australia