Inland Dotterels or Australian Dotterel
The Inland Dotterels, Charadrius australis, also known as the Australian Dotterel and sometimes placed in the monotypic (one single species) genus Peltohyas, is a medium-sized Charadriine plover.
Description
Unmistakable. Upperparts are generally buff and mottled with dark brown. Face pale but marked by vertical black band crossing eye and fore-crown. Underparts are generally buff and white, marked with a distinctive black Y on the breast, forming a collar on the hind-neck, and joined to the black band on the belly separating the white lower belly from the rich buff lower breast and flanks. Measurements: length 19-23 cm; wingspan 43-47 cm; weight 80 g.
Distribution
The Inland Dotterel Endemic to the southern and central arid zone of mainland Australia.
Habitat
Open, arid country; distribution bounded by 100 mm summer isohyet.
Food
Seeds and invertebrates animals without internal skeletons, such as insects, larvae, earthworms, millipedes, snails, and spiders).
Breeding
Nests on bare ground in shallow depression; clutch of 3 brown eggs, marked with irregular black spots; incubation period c.28 days; young precocial and nidifugous.
Conservation
With a large range and no evidence of significant population decline, this species’ conservation status is of Least Concern.
