Thanks, Carol
Sorry to have taken so long to get back to you.
That sounds like a very likely explanation, especially why the aggressor did no
more than sit on the injured bird. The idea of a territory takeover hadn't
occurred to us.
We have seen injured and dead birds with, presumably, their mates hanging about
in what seems to be distress. And we have seen injured birds attacked, though
usually by other species.
The ensuing discussion about the "Black-shouldered" Lapwing has thrown us. We
understood that there was a name change that distinguished it from the northern
Lapwing that retained the name "Masked Lapwing". The discussion has been
interesting and we await some conclusion.
Meanwhile there are two good photos for comparison at
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masked_lapwing
Peter Morgan
The conservation battle is never finally won; the development battle is.
> On 10 Jul 2015, at 8:04 am, Carol Abbott <> wrote:
>
> Hi Peter
> It sounds to me that it was a territory take over. The aggressor was checking
> out the strength of the injured bird, before taking over. The injured bird,
> by retreating and not arguing back, was showing that it was weak and could
> not defend itself. That way there is no need for either to be injured
> unnecessarily in a fight for the territory. The "sitting" on the bird, was
> just showing dominance.
> I am a wildlife carer and we get a few Lapwings in that have been hit by cars
> - which is possibly what happened to your one. A broken wing can take some
> time to heal, can sometimes be fixed, depending on the break, but a beak
> break is more difficult. They are starting to make prostheses beaks, but it
> is pretty expensive, so is only done on rare birds.
> Hope this helps.
> Carol
>
>
>> On 8 July 2015 at 21:21, Peter Morgan <> wrote:
>> Yesterday, we took an injured Lapwing to WIRES, but it had to be put down.
>> It had a broken wing, which might have been rescuable, but the broken bill
>> led to the assessment that it would not survive.
>> .
>>
>> We are wondering if anyone can comment on this behaviour.
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