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| Black Fronted Dotterel Julia Creek |
At the end of the rains
in Julia Creek a Black Fronted Dotterel busied itself on the footpath and in
the gutters beside the school. It would
dart around on the road, stop abruptly, bob its head and then dart off. This repeated action made photographing this
little wader extremely difficult.
This attractive bird is
found all over Australia except for the waterless region on the Northern
Territory/South Australian border of Western Australia. It prefers freshwater and nests close to
water. It is rarely seen in saline water
regions.
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| Black Fronted Dotterel & Juvenile |
The bird has a black
tipped red bill, a red eye ring in a black mask and a deep black “V” shaped
breast band that meets the mask on the bird’s shoulders. White underparts and chestnut wings and cap
and pink legs make the bird easy to recognise.
On my last trip east I saw some Black Fronted Dotterels with their young on the
bank of the lake at Richmond.
These birds were darting around in the scanty grass that grows on the edge of the lake.
The black fronted
dotterel is small, only 16 cm from bill tip to wing tip, and is probably often
overlooked by the casual observer as it goes about its busy life.
Claire Wood
Email: JustClaireWood@gmail.com
For more information
about the Black Fronted Dotterel go to:
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