Masked lapwings might run the gauntlet of traffic and dogs when they nest in towns and cities but they are at least free of their age-old foe, the swamp harrier.
Or so a lapwing pair believed when they set up home on a patch of open ground along Blair St in Richmond.
A swooping swamp harrier was soon to disrupt their suburban bliss. Not only a harrier invaded their idyll, but a brown falcon
The remarkable three-way tussle between lapwing, harrier and then the brown falcon has been recounted by a neighbour of the unfortunate lapwings, wildlife biologist Nick Mooney.
“One morning there was screaming chaos over the back fence and through a melee of swirling lapwings came a large harrier diving fast and with legs down,” Mooney told me.
He thought the harrier was after one of the lapwings’ chicks but the raptor subdued an adult lapwing in the neighbouring paddock.
“The local magpies did a few half-hearted swoops then settled down,” he said. “Then a local brown falcon charged in, landing less than a metre away with clear intent on the meal. A couple of scuffles ensured. However, with their long legs harriers are notoriously good at defending food and all the brown falcon could do was huff and puff.“
The harrier adopted a hunched stance to cover the carcass, and started to eat. After about 10 minutes the falcon retreated and then the harrier flew away with what remained of the lapwing.
“The only evidence of this lethal play was a pool of plucked feathers,” Mooney said.
Although lapwings – generally called “plovers” in Tasmania – are common in built-up areas, historically they are birds of marginal, rough ground at the edge of forests, particularly low-lying wet areas.
This is how they would have been known to the first Tasmanians but the arrival of European settlers proved a boon for the species by creating the open space of paddock and field which suits them. They also benefited from the creation of parks with grasslands in towns and cities.
Says Nick Mooney, a raptor expert: “I believe the lapwings trade those anthropogenic risks for being in town where raptor activity, particularly of their age-old enemy the swamp harrier, is less”.
Like the lapwing, the swamp harrier has also been able to exploit an environment changed by farming and the wide-open fields also suit their mode of hunting in which they quarter grasslands and then swoop when they see prey. They are considered the farmers’ friend because, when not taking lapwings, they also kill rats and mice. For this reason, many farmers identify harrier nesting sites in open fields and leave wide margins when cutting grassland.
The harrier is the only migrating bird of prey, leaving the mainland towards the end of winter when it knows the lapwings, which are early breeders, will have chicks.