title: Swooping in the Suburbs; Parental Defence of an Abundant Aggressive Urban Bird against Humans.
abstract: Masked Lapwings, Vanellus miles, often come into 'conflict' with humans, because they often breed in close proximity to humans and actively defend their ground nests through aggressive behaviour, which typically involves swooping. This study examined whether defensive responses differed when nesting birds were confronted with different human stimuli ('pedestrian alone' vs. 'person pushing a lawn mower' approaches to nests) and tested the effectiveness of a commonly used deterrent (mock eyes positioned on the top or back of a person's head) on the defensive response. Masked Lapwings did not swoop closer to a person with a lawn mower compared with a pedestrian, but flushed closer and remained closer to the nest in the presence of a lawn mower. The presence of eye stickers decreased (pedestrians) and increased (lawn mowers) swooping behaviour. Masked Lapwings can discriminate between different human activities and adjust their defensive behaviour accordingly. We also conclude that the use of eye stickers is an effective method to mitigate the human-lapwing 'conflict' in some, but not all, circumstances.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Integrative Ecology, Faculty of Science, Engineering and the Built Environment, Deakin University, 75 Pigdons Rd., Waurn Ponds, VIC 3216, Australia. lees.danielt@y7mail.com.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lees
authors.affiliation: Centre for Integrative Ecology, Faculty of Science, Engineering and the Built Environment, Deakin University, 75 Pigdons Rd., Waurn Ponds, VIC 3216, Australia. craig.sherman@deakin.edu.au.
authors.forename: Craig D H
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Sherman
authors.affiliation: BirdLife Australia, Suite 2-05, The Green Building, 60 Leicester Street, Carlton, VIC 3052, Australia. grainne.maguire@birdlife.org.au.
authors.forename: Grainne S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Maguire
authors.affiliation: Research Department, Phillip Island Nature Parks, P.O. Box 97, Cowes, Phillip Island, VIC 3922, Australia. pdann@penguins.org.au.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dann
authors.affiliation: Centre for Integrative Ecology, Faculty of Science, Engineering and the Built Environment, Deakin University, 75 Pigdons Rd., Waurn Ponds, VIC 3216, Australia. a.cardilini@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Adam P A
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Cardilini
authors.affiliation: Centre for Integrative Ecology, Faculty of Science, Engineering and the Built Environment, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, VIC 3125, Australia. mweston@deakin.edu.au.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Weston
keywords: hatching success; human disturbance; human-wildlife conflict; parental defence; swooping