Black-shouldered Lapwing vs. Masked Lapwing

Hello all, Dare I bring up the recent splitting of the former Spur-winged Plover former Spur-winged Lapwing former Masked Lapwing from the current Masked Lapwing to re-create the former* Vanellus novaehollandiae* now known as the ‘Black-shouldered Lapwing’. Confused? Open up an old copy of Çayley’s ‘What Bird is That?’ or even an early Pizzey and Knight and you will see that *Vanellus miles* has been split for longer than it has been lumped. Up until this most recent taxonomic split, authors including Boles and Christidis 1995 and 2008 had lumped both ‘species’ into Vanellus miles. They were split only as subspecies with *V.m.novaehollandiae* (Masked Lapwing aka Spur-winged Lapwing aka Black-shouldered Lapwing) and *V.m.miles *(nominated race – Masked Lapwing). See info on the recent ‘Handbook of Birds of the World’ (link below) http://www.hbw.com/species/black-shouldered-lapwing-vanellus-novaehollandiae http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/factsheet/22725241 WA Birding Blog ( http://wabirdingblog.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/the-curious-case-of-red-bellied-spinipig.html) writes: ” These forms also hybridise to produce intermediate-looking offspring, particularly around the Lake Eyre region. But given the large area of potential contact, hybridisation is surprisingly limited, and is probably partly due to recent expansion from our human love of grass. Some past discussions on birding-aus [9] suggest that hybridisation in the supposed contact zone in southern Queensland is limited, and in other areas may have been exaggerated by intentional oversampling of hybrids. So this may well be a good species deserving of further study, subject to genetic assessment of gene flow.” So I kick off the discussion with the question. Where have you seen hybris/intermediate or sympatric Masked and Black-shouldered Lapwing? I have seen them on a property called “Degulla” north of Alpha and West of Clermont in the Desert Uplands of Central Queensland. One bird in particular was a typical ‘Black-shouldered Lapwing’ one was a typical ‘Masked lawping’ while all the others were inter-grades of the two. Here is a photo of a similar ‘inter-grade flock’ taken at Barcaldine Queensland. http://www.bonzle.com/c/a?a=pic&fn=svz0f4td&s=3 Regards, Kurtis Lindsay