Masked Lapwing

Vanellus miles

Despite their aggressive display, they often nest in the middle of busy school ovals or airport runways.

Scientific name

Vanellus miles

Taxonomy

Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Charadriiformes › Charadriidae › Vanellus

IUCN Red List status

Least Concern

Population trend

increasing

Biome

grassland

Habitat

Open grasslands, marshes, urban parks, and cleared agricultural land.

Diet

Carnivorous; primarily soil-dwelling invertebrates like earthworms and insects.

Range

Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, Indonesia

Size

35 cm length; 300-450g weight

Lifespan

15-20 years

Active

diurnal

Threats

Habitat loss in specific regions, though they thrive in urban areas; predation of chicks by invasive cats and foxes.

Safe to approach?

Defensive. Masked Lapwings are notorious for 'swooping' to protect ground nests. Keep a safe distance (15m+) from nesting pairs. If swooped, walk away calmly; do not run or wave arms. They rarely make contact, but the wing spurs can cause minor scratches. Harmless if ignored.

The masked lapwing ( Vanellus miles ), also known as the masked plover and often called the spur-winged plover or just plover in its native range, is a large, common and conspicuous bird native to Australia, particularly the northern and eastern parts of the continent, New Zealand and New Guinea. It spends most of its time on the ground searching for food such as insects and worms and has several distinctive calls. There are two subspecies; the southern...

Photo: patrickkavanagh, CC-BY, via iNaturalist

Plain-text version: /species/d3251f61-93a7-4d39-ac00-43efa9c898c2.md