Masked Lapwing

'Our' lapwings have a dark neck band

In the ‘bird watching world’, the winter solstice (LINK ABC News/Science) is often thought of as when the Masked Lapwings begin to nest. Anecdotally however the bird seems fairly opportunistic in this regard and will nest when conditions suit.

Mostly seen in pairs

Their nest consists of a simple scrape on open ground and every bird watcher has a story of some of the very strange locations of lapwing nests. Two such stories familiar to me are: 1 beside the approach path to the runway at a local airport where the slipstream from the aircraft would threaten to blast the sitting bird from the nest; 2 in the path of the fairway mower on a country golf course and when the mower operator removed and replaced the nest, the parent was back sitting as the mower came within a couple of metres on the return run.

Lapwing and chicks at Cranbourne Botanic Gardens

The Masked Lapwing is a familiar native grey and white bird with a black crown. It has a distinctive ‘mask’ of yellow beak, face and wattles. Sometimes called the masked plover, spur-winged plover or just plover, Masked Lapwings do not belong to the true plover family. The manifest, strident, ‘krik-krik-krik-krik…’ call is often heard at night.

The yellow face mask and wattle consists of bare skin

Masked Lapwings tend to occupy open spaces such as paddocks, sports grounds, empty house blocks in urban locations, school yards, and such, often near to a wetland. They feed on worms and insects buried just below the surface and are widespread across the north, east and south of the continent. The Masked Lapwing is a sedentary species except that seasonal conditions may bring about some dispersal at times.

Out of breeding season, Masked Lapwings can sometimes gather in small to large groups

During nesting, the Masked Lapwing can aggressively swoop territorial intruders – human and animal. Seldom do they actually strike and the yellow spurs on the ‘elbow’ of the wings are not venomous as is often thought.