Eurasian dotterel
| Eurasian dotterel | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Charadriidae |
| Genus: | Charadrius |
| Species: | C. morinellus |
| Binomial name | |
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Charadrius morinellus Linnaeus, 1758 |
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| Range of C. morinellus Breeding range Wintering range | |
The Eurasian dotterel (Charadrius morinellus), also known in Europe as just dotterel, is a small wader in the plover family of birds.
The dotterel is a brown and black streaked bird with a broad white eye-stripe and an orange-red chest band when in breeding plumage. The female is more colourful than the male. The bird is tame and unsuspecting and the term "dotterel" has been applied contemptuously to mean an old fool.
The dotterel is a migratory species, moving northward in spring and southward in autumn. It breeds in the Arctic tundra of northern Eurasia, from Norway to eastern Siberia, and on suitable mountain plateaus such as the Scottish highlands and the Alps. It nests in a bare scrape on the ground and lays two to four eggs. The male does the incubation and rears the chicks, the female having gone off to find another male and lay another clutch of eggs. It is a common bird with a wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated it as being of "least concern".
The English name dates from 1440 when it was used to refer to the bird and also as an insult for someone considered simple or a dotard. It is not clear which use is the oldest, but the link is its tame and unsuspecting nature which made it easy to catch. King James I of England went every year to Royston, Hertfordshire to shoot dotterels. It was also easy prey for illegal poaching, which depleted its stocks. They were also prized as a delicacy: in 1534 Queen Anne Boleyn was presented with "a brace of dotterels".
The genus name Charadrius is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. It derives from Ancient Greek kharadrios a bird found in ravines and river valleys (kharadra, "ravine"). The specific morinellus is Ancient Greek derived from moros "foolish", due to the bird's trusting nature.
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Wikipedia