This loud and conspicuous species is the world's largest member of the Charadriidae (Plovers and Lapwings). Masked Lapwings are common on lawns and open fields but seem to keep a distance from each other. I've never seen them in flocks. Two subspecies are normally recognized. This is the southern race which has smaller facial wattles and a black nape and chest bar. It is split as Black-shouldered Lapwing (Vanellus novaehollandiae) by Birdlife International following publication of the HBW Illustrated Checklist. This split is based on the questionable Tobias scoring system adopted by HBW and Birdlife International. They inexplicably use the well known broad hybrid zone to increase the score in favor of splitting. But the existence of this hybrid zone confirms that they are subspecies and not biological species. To qualify as species, their ranges need to overlap. Canon PowerShot SX60 HS.
References:
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N. & Kirwan, G.M. (2019). Black-shouldered Lapwing (Vanellus novaehollandiae). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/467302 on 20 December 2019).
Marchant, S.; Higgins, P.J. (eds) 1993. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic birds. Vol. 2, raptors to lapwings. Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
Woodley, K. 2013. Spur-winged plover in Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online. www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz