masked lapwing (spur-winged plover) - Vanellus miles
Part of a very large flock of masked lapwing on te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere, Canterbury, New Zealand.
The New Zealand spur-winged plover population has a unique conservation trajectory among our native bird species. In just over 80 years since the first breeding record, it has gone from a fully protected native to having that protection removed in 2010. First recorded breeding near Invercargill in 1932, it subsequently spread northwards through the country, becoming established in Northland in the 1980s. A bird of open country, it is an obtrusive, noisy addition to habitats ranging from riverbeds and sea and lakeshores to agricultural pasture and urban parklands. Common names for birds can be a linguistic minefield, but our spur-winged plover should not to be confused with a species of the same name that occurs in central Africa. Given that it is actually a lapwing, perhaps it would have been easier if we had adopted its Australian name - masked lapwing.
masked lapwing (spur-winged plover) - Vanellus miles
Part of a very large flock of masked lapwing on te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere, Canterbury, New Zealand.
The New Zealand spur-winged plover population has a unique conservation trajectory among our native bird species. In just over 80 years since the first breeding record, it has gone from a fully protected native to having that protection removed in 2010. First recorded breeding near Invercargill in 1932, it subsequently spread northwards through the country, becoming established in Northland in the 1980s. A bird of open country, it is an obtrusive, noisy addition to habitats ranging from riverbeds and sea and lakeshores to agricultural pasture and urban parklands. Common names for birds can be a linguistic minefield, but our spur-winged plover should not to be confused with a species of the same name that occurs in central Africa. Given that it is actually a lapwing, perhaps it would have been easier if we had adopted its Australian name - masked lapwing.