Pohowera - banded dotterel - Charadrius bicinctus
Photographed on the Ashley River and estuary.
Nationally vulnerable, the banded dotterel is the most common small plover of New Zealand seashores, estuaries and riverbeds. Although their plumage varies seasonally, they are readily identified by their brown upperparts and complete or partial chestnut breast band, the latter being quite striking in breeding plumage. Like other typical plovers, the body is held erect and they have a characteristic run-stop-peck-run foraging behaviour in their pursuit of small invertebrates - www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz
Pohowera - banded dotterel - Charadrius bicinctus
Photographed on the Ashley River and estuary.
Nationally vulnerable, the banded dotterel is the most common small plover of New Zealand seashores, estuaries and riverbeds. Although their plumage varies seasonally, they are readily identified by their brown upperparts and complete or partial chestnut breast band, the latter being quite striking in breeding plumage. Like other typical plovers, the body is held erect and they have a characteristic run-stop-peck-run foraging behaviour in their pursuit of small invertebrates - www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz