March bird of the month: Inland Dotterel

5 things about Inland Dotterels

Here’s five things you may or may not know about your March Bird of the Month, the Inland Dotterel!

1. Not your typical shorebird

While they are in the shorebird family, Inland Dotterels are in a genus of their own.

Unlike other plovers and dotterels, they are rarely found near a shoreline and are often far from any water. Instead, they prefer open, arid country where vegetation is sparse, such as gibber plains, clay plans and gravel flats.

Also known as the Australian, Desert or Prairie Plover, adult Inland Dotterels have distinctive dark markings – including a black band across their crown and down through their eye, and a striking black collar and Y-shaped pattern on their breast.

2. Some like it hot

Endemic to arid south-eastern and south-western Australia, these medium-sized shorebirds are well-adapted to living in some of the hottest and most exposed parts of the country. Inland Dotterels can withstand extreme temperatures with little shade and even have special salt glands above their eyes which remove excess salts from their body and the succulent plants they feed on.

3. They’re fond of a midnight feast – and are vegetarian during the day!

Inland Dotterels are more active at night, when they’re most commonly seen foraging on outback roads. During the day, they are well-camouflaged among the dirt and gibber rocks with their cryptic, sandy-coloured plumage as they pluck succulent leaves and seeds from low vegetation. But when night falls, they ditch the greens and feed on insects, ants and spiders.

They prefer to feed alone or in pairs at night, but are usually seen in small flocks during the day – sometimes congregating in large flocks of hundreds outside the breeding season.

4. They’re on the move

Because of their preference for remote, arid habitat, Inland Dotterels and their movements aren’t well known or studied. However, they appear to move seasonally (south in the spring and north in the summer) and in response to rainfall and drought. They will appear and breed in some districts following heavy rainfall, but will leave if their habitat is made unsuitable by excessively wet or dry conditions. On very rare occasions, they will even make it as far as the coast.

5. When it comes to nesting, they’re just scraping by

Quite the minimalists, Inland Dotterels nest in a shallow scrape in the ground. Sometimes, their nests are lined with small stones, dry grass and even animal dung, but often the eggs are laid directly onto the bare ground. If disturbed, the parents will quickly cover their nests with debris or nesting material to hide them from predators, or will sometimes feign injury to distract intruders from their young.