Masked Lapwing

Vanellus miles

The masked lapwing is a large, common and conspicuous bird native to Australia, 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. It is common in Australian fields, open land and where there is lots of water, and is known for its defensive swooping behaviour during the nesting season. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 605,291 times across 24 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in Oceania ranged from 39°S in May to 29°S in November, about 1,100 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.