BANDED DOTTEREL

Photographed at Maketu, New Zealand, June 2017

(*  432)               BANDED DOTTEREL                 Charadrius bicinctus 

NEW ZEALAND                62

Breeds on sandy beaches, shellbacks and especially braided riverbeds; after breeding forms flocks at estuaries, lake margins and sometimes short grassland. 20 cm. Although described as endemic over much of New Zealand large number migrate to Australia, where it is known as Double-banded Plover.

NEW ZEALAND DOTTEREL

Photographed at Shakespear Nature Reserve, June 2017

1184               NEW ZELAND DOTTEREL             Charadrius obscurus

NEW ZEALAND               14

Locally common endemic; c. 2200 birds of northern subspecies are found around the coasts of the North Island; c. 250 birds of the southern subspecies found mainly on Stewart Island and Southland. 20 cm. Found on beaches, sand spits, estuaries and on Stewart Island breed on mountain tops.

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.

LESSER SAND PLOVER

Photographed at Kakadu Beach, Bribe Island, Queensland August 2015

644             LESSER SAND PLOVER           Charadrius mongolus

Australia         (487)

Also known as Mongolian Sand Plover, Mongolian Plover or Mongolian Dotterel. 19-21 cm. Found on tidal mudflats and sandblast; gently sloping sandy and shelly beaches; salt marsh, estuaries, atolls, reefs, mangroves, airfields. Occasionally on inland freshwater lakes, swamps, bore drains etc. Range: breeds in e. and ne Siberia; regular summer migrant (Aug.-May) to mostly coastal Aust., Tas., and NZ; scattered inland occurrences. Regular in low thousands in some areas, such as Gulf of Carpentaria and Moreton Bay (Q).

RED-CAPPED PLOVER

Photographed on Comerong Island, NSW southern coast.

304         RED-CAPPED PLOVER               Charadrius ruficapillus

Australia          (270)

Also known as Red-capped Dotterel, Sandlark or Sandpiper. 14-16 cm. Range all over Australia and Tasmania. Found on broad sandy and shelly beaches, margins of saline wetlands and lakes, salt marshes, tidal mudflats and sandblast, adjacent dunes and shallow freshwater wetlands.

RED-KNEED DOTTEREL

Photographed at Tuggerah Water Treatment plant ponds on NSW Central Coast, October 2014

265             RED-KNEED DOTTEREL             Erythrogonys cintus

Australia    (240)

Range over most of Australian mainland except driest areas. Found in shallow freshwater wetlands, floodwaters, sewerage ponds, clay pans. 17-19 cms.

BLACK-FRONTED DOTTEREL

34        BLACK-FRONTED DOTTEREL       Elseyornis melanops

Australia    (34)

Also known as the Black-fronted Plover. 16-18 cms. Found over most of Australia except area in central-east of Western Australia. Mainly around water, gravel roads.