Seasonal birds are starting to show up again at last. Down on the beach recently we've seen not only the usual Tōrea pango | Variable Oystercatcher, Tōrea | South Island Pied Oystercatcher and gulls but yesterday I also spotted: Kuaka | Godwit, Spur-winged Plover and Tuturiwhatu | Banded dotterel.
Eastern bar-tailed godwits breed on upland and coastal tundra on the western rim of Alaska … Juveniles arrive in New Zealand after their first trans-Pacific flight when barely four months old. … Bar-tailed godwits forage over the intertidal zone at low tide.
Spur-winged plovers … may be found in almost any area with low vegetation, often near water: from the margins of marine and terrestrial wetlands, riverbeds and lake shores to estuaries and beaches, to farm pastures and almost any grassland in urban areas, playing fields, parks or even road verges.
First eggs are laid in August to early November, in shallow scrapes in gravel, sand or soil, usually lined with tiny stones, occasionally shell. The clutch-size nearly always is three eggs, which are coloured grey to pale-green or olive with small dark spots.
Given how small the Dotterels are and how difficult it is to see them, the chances of spotting a baby bird are minute. Let's hope dogs, trailbikes and pedestrians all manage to avoid crushing any nests or birds.
