Alternative names: Red-breasted Plover; Red-breasted Dotterel; New Zealand Plover
- Anarhynchus obscurus
Charadrius obscurus
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Identification
Breeding adult
- Brown upperparts
- Underparts from pale buff to rufous
Distribution
New Zealand endemic.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
Clements recognizes these subspecies[1]:
- A. o. aquilonius - North I. (New Zealand)
- A. o. obscurus - Stewart I. (New Zealand)
Habitat
Shore birds found on beaches and by estuaries.
Status
Classified as Endangered in the 2008 IUCN red List (BirdLife International, 2008) due to its small population and limited range; predation by introduced predators is the major threat.
Behaviour
In late summer, the birds leave their breeding sites and congregate in post-breeding flocks at favoured estuaries for the autumn and early winter. These flocks are socially important; birds which have lost partners during the breeding season can find new ones, and young birds pair for the first time. Some areas where these flocks occur are at Mangawhai (150 birds), Waipu (30-40 birds), Omaha (70-80 birds), Tapora (40-45 birds), Wade River (20-25 birds), and Whangapoua Estuary on Great Barrier (40-50 birds).
From mid-winter onwards, pairs begin to move back to their nesting territories, which they defend vigorously against other pairs. Nesting usually begins in September. Two or three well-camouflaged eggs are laid in a scrape in the sand, commonly among shells and driftwood just above the high tide mark. Because they are so hard to see, nests are sometimes crushed by people, vehicles, horses or stock.
NZ dotterels commonly try to distract intruders near their nest by pretending to be injured – they will even fake a broken wing - all the time leading the intruder further from the nest. If the eggs are lost to predators, or to natural factors such as storms or big tides, the birds will re-nest up to four times in one season.
Eggs are incubated for about a month and the newly-hatched chicks, looking rather like bumble bees with long legs, are quickly active. The parents guard them, but they must find all their own food. When danger threatens, the chicks run to the nearest cover and freeze, crouching low keeping still until the parents sound the all-clear.
Chicks can usually fly by the age of six - seven weeks, but this time may be extended if their feeding is reduced by continual disturbance. Young dotterels wander the coastline for the first 12-18 months of their lives. Most of them breed for the first time at two years of age.[4]
References
- Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2023. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2023. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2023. IOC World Bird List (v 13.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.13.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
- BirdLife International (2008) Species factsheet: Charadrius obscurus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 19/6/2008.
- NZ Dept of Conservation
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
