Masked lapwing
| Masked lapwing | ||||||||||||
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Masked lapwing |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Vanellus miles | ||||||||||||
| ( Boddaert , 1783) |
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The masked lapwing ( Vanellus miles ) is a bird art from the family of Plover (Charadriidae) of the avifauna of Australia and Oceania belongs. The lapwing is sometimes referred to as the soldier lapwing . This older name, which is also reflected in the Latin epithet miles (= soldier), is derived from the spur-armored wings of this lapwing. There are two subspecies.
The population of the masked lapwing was classified in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2016 as “ Least Concern (LC) ” = “not endangered”. It is a common bird in places.
features
The masked lapwing reaches a body length of up to 35 centimeters and weighs up to 450 grams with a wingspan of 85 centimeters. The gender dimorphism is only slightly pronounced. Males stay somewhat smaller than females. However, the spur on the wing is 0.7 centimeters long in the males, while it is 0.2 centimeters in the females. In contrast, the skin flaps under the eyes are larger in females than in males.
The headstock is black up to the neck. The belly and the under tail are white. The wings and the back are light gray-brown, the underside of the body is white. The large yellow facial lobes are striking. The beak is also yellow. The legs are flesh-colored.
Characteristics of the two subspecies
Two subspecies are distinguished for the masked lapwing with the nominate form Vanellus miles miles and the Vanellus miles novaehollandiae, which occurs in the south of the distribution area .
The nominate form has longer skin flaps on the beak that extend to the middle and, in some individuals, even over the eye. The nape and the sides of the neck are pure white. The spur is yellow. The subspecies Vanellus miles novaehollandiae , on the other hand, has smaller and more rounded skin flaps on the beak that end in front of the eye. Their necks are black to the base of the coat and the sides of the chest. The spur on the wing is longer and has a dark tip.
distribution and habitat
The masked lapwing lives in Australia , Tasmania , New Zealand and New Guinea . As is typical for lapwing, it comes mainly in open landscapes and is found mainly in open grasslands, fields and swamp areas. He is a cultural follower that can also be found increasingly in urban regions. There he uses the man-made grassy areas of parks and golf courses.
Way of life
The diet consists of insects , spiders , worms and crustaceans . In addition, he also eats various seeds.
Masked kibits are ground dwellers who live in pairs during the breeding season and vigorously avoid their territory against conspecifics and the clutch against predators. Outside the breeding season , masked calves occur in troops that can contain up to 100 individuals.
The breeding time of the masked calves is not tied to any season. Broods occur when there is sufficient food available. To find a pair, there is a group courtship. The masked lapwing builds a simple ground nest , which consists of a hollow in the ground slightly padded with grass and twigs. They lay 3 to 4 eggs. Both parent birds are involved in the brood and show an enticing behavior that is typical for many ground- nesting birds . After a breeding period of 4 weeks, the chicks hatch and in their first three weeks of life lie flat on the ground after warning calls from the parent birds. You are fully grown at one year. They are sexually mature when they are two years old.
attitude
The first European breeding of masked pups is said to have been successful in 1910 at the London Zoo . They were then not shown in zoos for several decades and only came back on the market in the 1980s. The Dutch Avifauna bird park was able to breed in 1992, and the Walsrode bird park was able to breed masked kibits again for the first time in 1995. Masked calves kept in human care have already reached an age of up to 20 years.
literature
- W. Grummt , H. Strehlow (Ed.): Zoo animal keeping birds. Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-8171-1636-2 .
- PJ Higgins (Ed.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds , Volume 2, Raptors to Lapwings, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1993, ISBN 0-19-553069-1 .
- Theo Pagel , Bernd Marcordes: Exotic soft-eaters . Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-8001-5192-9 .
Web links
- Vanellus miles in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed September 20 2016th
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Vanellus miles in the Internet Bird Collection
- The Maskenkiebitz calls on Xeno-Canto