Thread: Spur winged plovers

Whats your thoughts about these aviation threats. They like flat ground near mud and have no predators except the hay mower when it gets dry enough.



Nasty wee birds can cut a small native bird from the sky with the barb on the wing.

12 auto and mag extension ...

scored 2 with 1 shot a few weeks ago - didn't even slow down

nasty as barb though

Shoot the pricks, had those bastards going after me when I was in Te Aroha those feathered turds thought they were shit hot till I rolled up in the bosses terrano and took the .22 to them.

Lead poisoning is good for them. Whatever is handy seems to work.

I hate the noisy pricks,wasnt aware of the barb on the wing! they are a predator then?

there was talk some years back o having them on the game bird list

Dundee, the only good one is a dead one. I have them on my property (always in pairs). They are noisy as but have trouble dodging shot.

They roast up well and taste quite good....cough....or so I hear

have to send you mine lol

Originally Posted by Dundee

Nasty wee birds can cut a small native bird from the sky with the barb on the wing.

Only thing I've seen them take on are harrier hawks & magpies. As a useless piece of info: Plovers are native to NZ (they weren't liberated), just not endemic.

Always though they caught the wind here from Aussie?
And that's why they used to be protected but not native
See, I learn something new every day

Using TT2 with my MT15i

THEY DID

Spur-winged Plover
Vanellus V. miles

The Spur-winged Plover that is found here in New Zealand is a self-introduced bird that was originally a native to Australia only, where it is called the masked lapwing. In fact this name is actually more accurate because it is not a true plover. Further confusion occurs when discovering that the northern hemisphere spur-winged plover, which breeds in the Mediterranean, is not related to this species either, and is also a lapwing rather than a true plover.

There are many different species of lapwing all around the world, but only 1 breeds in Australasia of which there are 2 sub-species. The northern sub-species V. miles miles breed in northern Australia and now New Guinea. The smaller sub-species V. miles novaehollandiae, which was originally confined to south-eastern Australia, extended its range to include Tasmania and then New Zealand as a self-introduced species.

Although vagrants of this sub-species were seen much earlier on, it wasn’t until the 1930’s that a pair were recorded as breeding here, at Invercargill airport. Initially, they stayed within coastal Southland, but by the 1950’s they had spread to inland areas, then central Otago. By the late 1960’s they had spread to the rest of the South Island and Stewart Island, and in the 1970’s were first recorded as breeding in the North Island.

This species is now considered to be quite abundant in the South Island and in some areas of the North Island, where it continues to become more common. They are classified as a protected self-introduced native.

Originally Posted by el borracho

THEY DID

Spur-winged Plover
Vanellus V. miles

The Spur-winged Plover that is found here in New Zealand is a self-introduced bird that was originally a native to Australia only, where it is called the masked lapwing. In fact this name is actually more accurate because it is not a true plover. Further confusion occurs when discovering that the northern hemisphere spur-winged plover, which breeds in the Mediterranean, is not related to this species either, and is also a lapwing rather than a true plover.

There are many different species of lapwing all around the world, but only 1 breeds in Australasia of which there are 2 sub-species. The northern sub-species V. miles miles breed in northern Australia and now New Guinea. The smaller sub-species V. miles novaehollandiae, which was originally confined to south-eastern Australia, extended its range to include Tasmania and then New Zealand as a self-introduced species.

Although vagrants of this sub-species were seen much earlier on, it wasn’t until the 1930’s that a pair were recorded as breeding here, at Invercargill airport. Initially, they stayed within coastal Southland, but by the 1950’s they had spread to inland areas, then central Otago. By the late 1960’s they had spread to the rest of the South Island and Stewart Island, and in the 1970’s were first recorded as breeding in the North Island.

This species is now considered to be quite abundant in the South Island and in some areas of the North Island, where it continues to become more common. They are classified as a protected self-introduced native.

OK, so when I said that they had trouble dodging shot, I was generalising. Not my shot of course (skulks away smiling sheepishly)

not protected anymore - they where - but now on Schedule 5

Spur-winged plover (Vanellus miles)

Schedule 5 lists wildlife that is not protected throughout New Zealand. It currently includes a number of mammals, birds and amphibians, including most farmed species. It is lawful for anyone to hunt, kill, or have in their possession any wildlife listed on this schedule.