INLAND DOTEREL

Photographed at Shoalhaven Heads, January 2017

967               INLAND DOTTEREL             Charadrius australis         

AUSTRALIA                        699

Found in stony, sparsely vegetated plains and uplands; gibber, stock routes, outback roads, bare pastures, crops, golf courses; occasionally ploughed land; seldom near water, but drinks at playpens, stock-tanks etc at dusk. 19-20 cm; wingspan 43-47 cm. Ranges across inland parts of all mainland states, mostly s. of Tropic, extending patchily to coast from se SA to c Exmouth Gulf, casual n to Dampier Arch (WA). Vagrant e coast and Gulf coast (NT). Nomadic: movement influenced by  plant-growth following rainfall.

NOTE: single vagrant bird found at Shoalhaven Heads (NSW) end of January 2017.