Shore plover
| Shore plover | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Male | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Charadriidae |
| Genus: | Thinornis |
| Species: | T. novaeseelandiae |
| Binomial name | |
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Thinornis novaeseelandiae (Gmelin, 1789) |
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The shore plover (Thinornis novaeseelandiae), also known as the shore dotterel or by its Māori name of tuturuatu, is a small plover endemic to New Zealand. Once found all around the New Zealand coast, it is now restricted to a few offshore islands. It is one of the world's rarest shorebirds: the population is roughly 200.
Initially classified in the common plover genus Charadrius, the shore plover is currently placed in Thinornis along with one other species, the hooded plover (T. cucullatus). Thinornis rossii, supposedly from the Auckland Islands, is now generally considered to be a juvenile shore plover with an incorrectly recorded location. Some authorities consider the shore plover a species of Charadrius, and further genetic evidence will be needed to resolve the issue.
Thinornis novaeseelandiae is brown above and white below, with a black (male) or brown (female) mask. There is a distinctive white strip circling its head below its brown skullcap. Its legs and dark-tipped bill are orange, brighter in males.
Although this species was historically found only on the New Zealand coast, subfossil shore plover bones have been recovered from roosts of the extinct laughing owl near rivers many kilometres inland.Cook's second expedition collected them from opposite ends of the South Island, in Fiordland and the Marlborough Sounds. There are 19th century reports of shore plovers from the South Island and several parts of the North Island, but by the 1870s they had vanished from the mainland, surviving only on the Chatham Islands. Introduced predators such as feral cats and Norway rats were the main culprits.
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Wikipedia