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The masked lapwing (Vanellus miles) 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.
The traditional terms "plover", "lapwing", and "dotterel" do not correspond exactly to current taxonomic models; thus, several of the Vanellinae are often called plovers, and one a dotterel, while a few of the "true" plovers (subfamily Charadriinae) are known colloquially as lapwings. In general, a lapwing can be thought of as a larger plover.
The trend in recent years has been to rationalise the common names of the Charadriidae. For example, the large and very common Australian bird traditionally known as the 'spur-winged plover', is now the masked lapwing to avoid conflict with another bird with the same name; and the former 'sociable plover' is now the sociable lapwing.
The masked lapwing (also known as the spur-winged plover) has carpal spurs. Nesting pairs defend their territory against all intruders by calling loudly, spreading their wings, and then swooping fast and low, and where necessary, striking at interlopers with their feet and attacking animals on the ground with the conspicuous yellow spurs.
Pied plover: Hoploxypterus cayanus (Latham, 1790) 20 Northern lapwing: Vanellus vanellus (Linnaeus, 1758) 21 Long-toed lapwing: Vanellus crassirostris (Hartlaub, 1855) 22 Blacksmith lapwing: Vanellus armatus (Burchell, 1822) 23 Spur-winged lapwing: Vanellus spinosus (Linnaeus, 1758) 24 River lapwing: Vanellus duvaucelii (Lesson, RP, 1826) 25 ...
The food of the spur-winged lapwing is insects and other invertebrates, which are picked from the ground. It lays four blotchy yellowish eggs on a ground scrape. The spur-winged lapwing is known to sometimes use the wing-claws in an attack on animals and, rarely, people, who get too close to the birds' exposed offspring.
Black-bellied plover, Pluvialis squatarola (A) Pacific golden-plover, Pluvialis fulva; Banded lapwing, Vanellus tricolor (A) Masked lapwing, Vanellus miles; Lesser sand-plover, Charadrius mongolus (A) Greater sand-plover, Charadrius leschenaultii (A) Double-banded plover, Charadrius bicinctus; Semipalmated plover, Charadrius semipalmatus (A)
American golden-plover: Pluvialis dominicus (A) Pacific golden-plover: Pluvialis fulva: Gray-headed lapwing: Vanellus cinereus (A) Banded lapwing: Vanellus tricolor: Masked lapwing: Vanellus miles: Lesser sand-plover: Charadrius mongolus: Greater sand-plover: Charadrius leschenaultii: Double-banded plover: Charadrius bicinctus (A) Red-capped ...