Who is that Masked Bird?…by Brad Marks

For some reason I continually forget February is a short month – even worse since leaving the grind when I had the end of the month “Explain how you earned our money” reports to remind me the calendar is about to roll (and the bank account grow). I am sure someone out there is going “Just look in the bottom right corner of your screen nitwit!“. The important thing is I need to stay on top of the posts or we will miss our self-imposed monthly quota. I had intentions of digging into my photo backlog queue and writing up a post today, but Linda offered to go chase a Snowy Owl that had been spotted about an hour away…that requires zero decision time ha. We ended up finding TWO of them which made my day (missed that check all of last year). In my jubilation, forgot about the post until it was too late, but you are in luck. Brad was at the ready with another of his adventures from “Down Under”. Last time I brought you a new bird that traveled to us, this time we are bringing you a new bird that Intrigued packed its bags for.

Take it away Brad…. (Note, Brad and Jan are out on assignment so replies might be delayed)

On our first full day in Cairns (pronounced “cans”), Queensland Australia (north side), Jan and I went outside our beachfront hotel after breakfast to see what we could see before our first group activity started.  Even in October, Cairns is very warm and humid.  Remember, it’s on the other side of the Equator, the seasons are reversed.  Essentially, we were in Australia in “April” for them.  Cairns is in the tropics so temperatures don’t vary all that much winter to summer.  Well, except from Fahrenheit to Celsius for travelers.  The high temperature that day reached 28C, or 82F, with 110% humidity.  A very warm day for me, but about average for this time of year for Cairns.  Important stats to know when carrying very large glass outside after it has been sitting in an air-conditioned hotel room overnight.  We let the cameras and lenses warm up slowly to prevent condensation on all of the glass elements.  Wandering around with a large camera and 200-500mm lens garners a lot of attention. 

Talk about having egg on your face ha… hit the jump to learn more about this exotic looking bird.

We met some very nice people on our walk about by the water.  After about 20 minutes, right around the time I started sweating, I figured the camera and lens would be safe to use in the humid conditions.  Keep in mind, this is October in Cairns.  We had temps in the 50’s and 60’s Fahrenheit with low humidity at home during this time.  Cairns sits about 17 degrees South of the Equator, tropical by definition.  The furthest southern part of the United States (not including possessions, territories, etc.) is South Point on the Big Island of Hawaii.  Even then, South Point sits at 19 degrees North of the Equator by comparison.  The sun had already crossed the Equator for the winter, making things much warmer in Cairns than even Hawaii.  Something I could never quite get used to is that the sun appears in the northern sky in Australia.  For someone used to navigating based on the direction of the sun in the sky and time of day, this really messed me up for the whole trip.  That, and travelling on the other side of the road.

Birding the wide tidal flat of Cairns was an embarrassment of riches.  (Of the nearly 100 free-flying birds we saw in Australia, 41 of them were in Cairns.)  To give our eyes a break from the tropical sun, we looked into the shadows of the trees outside our hotel next to the water.  Once adjusted, Jan spotted this fellow poking about in the mud.

The Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles), a +1 for us, is native to Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Indonesia.  Frankly, nearly everything that flies in Australia is a +1, with the exception of . . . can you guess?  Those darn House Sparrows!  Yup, that’s three continents we’ve seen them on.

Time to move away from House Sparrows and get back to today’s bird.  The Masked Lapwing has a yellow wattle over its forehead which also hangs on either side of its bill.  The wattle reminded me of the fru-fru masks worn in Europe during fancy costume balls, without the stick to hold it in place.  Masked Lapwings also have a little “floof” on top of their heads.  We only saw the “floof” casually and not in full territorial display.  Which is probably a good thing because the full territorial display involves dive bombing and possible attack with the wing spurs, a Masked Lapwing defense mechanism.  Where the “elbows” would be on their wings, there’s a tiny spur hidden beneath the feathers.  When threatened, the spurs come out for defense.  Only fitting because they are also commonly known as “Spur-winged Plovers.”  Unlike everything else in Australia, or so we are led to believe, they are NOT trying to kill you; only maim or seriously injure.

October is nearing the end of their nesting season.  Any available Lapwing chicks were carefully hidden away from tourists with large cameras.  Adult Lapwings will fake injuries to lure predators away from their nests.  Sound familiar?  Killdeer in America do something similar.  Must be a Plover thing.  A mated pair will raise 3-5 eggs in a shallow “scrape” on open ground.  Both parents share in incubation and caring for young birds.  Once hatched, the tiny Lapwings are ready to leave the nest nearly immediately, and begin feeding themselves in a few hours. 

Males and female Masked Lapwings look identical.  The only reliable way to tell them apart is by their size; males are slightly larger.  Masked Lapwings can live up to 12 years in the wild. 

We caught the Masked Lapwing in two locations this day.  One was under the trees, near some mud.  The other was on the tidal flat, in the mud.  Jan and I had also spotted them at Port Arthur on Tasmania a few days prior.  They were in the grass but there was mud nearby.  Jan and I saw them again at the sulfur lake in Rotorua, New Zealand.  You guessed it, they were in the mud again.  I sense a theme here.  Just below the surface of the mud is where they find their favorite things to eat:  insects and earthworms.  The Masked Lapwings we saw were feeding alone, though they may forage in pairs or small groups.  The vast majority for this story were spotted, and photographed, at Cairns.  Jan and I have seen other varieties of Lapwings in England, though nothing quite as exotic or colorful looking as this one.

Thank you for reading.  If you want to see more Masked Lapwing photos, please visit here. 

Credits Thanks again to Jan for proofreading and editing.  Thanks to Jan for some of the photos in this article.