Black-fronted Dotterel

The handsome Black-fronted Dotterel is a small, fresh-water plover found throughout Australia and New Zealand. Its preference is for the fringes of fresh-water bodies like lakes, ephemeral pools, wetlands and dams, but is sometimes seen around the edges of saline estuaries.

Despite its contrasting and colourful plumage, the bird is often overlooked until you catch a glimpse of it dashing across the mudflat. The Black-fronted Dotterel feeds mostly on small insects, worms, crustaceans, and snails found in the mud and bordering vegetation. It lays its eggs in a scrape on the sandy or pebbly shoreline.

Although considered a sedentary species, the Black-fronted Dotterel is sometimes affected by local climatic conditions and habitat disturbance and might be partly dispersive or nomadic as a result.