The Eurasian dotterel (''Eudromias morinellus''), also known in
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
as just dotterel, is a small
wader
245px, A flock of Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots
Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflats in order to foraging, ...
in the
plover
Plovers ( , ) are members of a widely distributed group of wader, wading birds of subfamily Charadriinae. The term "plover" applies to all the members of the subfamily, though only about half of them include it in their name.
Species lis ...
family of
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
s. It is the only species placed in the
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
''Eudromias''.
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 Eurasian dotterel is a migratory species, breeding in Northern Europe and
Eurosiberia and
migrating south to North Africa and the Middle East in the winter. It nests in a bare scrape on the ground and lays two to four eggs. The male does the incubation and rears the chicks, with 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
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...
has rated it as being of "
least concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
".
Taxonomy and etymology
The Eurasian dotterel was
formerly described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
in the
tenth edition of his ''
Systema Naturae
' (originally in Latin written ' with the Orthographic ligature, ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Sweden, Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the syste ...
'' under the
binomial name
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...
''Charadrius morinellus''. The species was moved from ''
Charadrius
''Charadrius'' is a genus of plovers, a group of wading birds. The genus name ''Charadrius'' is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate.
They are found throughout the world.
Many ''Charadrius'' species are ...
'' to the resurrected genus ''Eudromias'' when phylogenetic studies found that ''Charadrius'' was
paraphyletic
Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...
. The genus ''Eudromias'' had been originally introduced in 1830 by the German ornithologist
Christian Ludwig Brehm
Christian Ludwig Brehm (24 January 1787 – 23 June 1864) was a German pastor and Ornithology, ornithologist. He was the father of the Zoology, zoologist Alfred Brehm.
Life
Brehm was born in Schönau (Odenwald), Schönau near Gotha on 24 Ja ...
. The genus name ''Eudromias'' is
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
meaning "good runner". The specific '' morinellus'' is derived from Ancient Greek ''moros'' meaning "foolish", due to the bird's trusting nature.
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. Which use is the oldest is unclear, but the link is its tame and unsuspecting nature, which made it easy to catch; its
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...
name is ''amadan-mòintich'', "fool of the
moors
The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a s ...
." King
James VI and I
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 M ...
went every year to
Royston, Hertfordshire
Royston is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Hertfordshire, District of North Hertfordshire and county of Hertfordshire in England.
It is situated on the Prime meridian (Greenwich), Greenwich Meridian, which brush ...
, to shoot dotterels.
[ It was also easy prey for illegal poaching, which depleted its stocks. It was also prized as a delicacy; in 1534, Queen ]Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the Wives of Henry VIII, second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading ...
was presented with "a brace of dotterels".[Weir, Alison"The Six Wives of Henry VIII" Pimlico edition 1992 p. 264]
Description
This plover is smaller and more compact than European golden plover
The European golden plover (''Pluvialis apricaria''), also known as the Eurasian golden plover, or just the golden plover within Europe, is a relatively large species of plover. This species is similar to two other golden plovers, the American ...
(''Pluvialis apricaria''). It has a striking whitish supercilium
The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also k ...
in all plumages and has plain wings in flight. Adults in summer are unmistakable, with a chestnut breast bordered above with white, black belly, and warm-brown back. The legs are yellow, and the short bill is black. As with the phalarope
A phalarope is any of three living species of slender-necked shorebirds in the genus ''Phalaropus'' of the bird family Scolopacidae.
Phalaropes are close relatives of the shanks and tattlers, the '' Actitis'' and Terek sandpipers, and also ...
s, the female is brighter than the male. Winter birds lack the rich underpart colouration, apart from the white breast line, and are greyer above. Young birds are similar, but have a scaly appearance to their backs. The flight call is a soft '. The female's song is a simple, repetitive whistle.
Distribution and habitat
It breeds in the Arctic tundra of northern Eurosiberia, from Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
to eastern Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
, and on suitable mountain plateaus such as the Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
highlands and the Alps
The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
...
. This species is migratory, wintering in a narrow belt across north Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
from Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
eastwards to Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
. Migration stopovers are traditional, and small parties (''trips'') of dotterels pass through each year at these usually inland arable or grassy sites. The winter habitat is semi-desert.
Behaviour and ecology
The dotterel's diet is made up of insect
Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...
s and other small invertebrate
Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...
s such as snails, worms, and shellfish. These are obtained by a run-and-pause technique, rather than the steady probing used by other waders.
The male dotterel generally is responsible for incubation and looks after the chicks. In most cases, the cock dotterel successfully prevents other males from getting his mate and fertilizing her eggs. He usually rears chicks that he has fathered and only 4.6% (2/44) of chicks were not the genetic offspring of the caring male, corresponding to 9.1% (2/22) broods affected.[
]
Status
It is a relatively common species with a wide range. Populations seem to be declining slowly, but not alarmingly so, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...
has rated it as a "least-concern species
A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
". A survey published in 2015 showed a fall in dotterel numbers in Scotland between 1987 and 2011, from 980 to 423 breeding males - representing a decline of 57%.[
The Eurasian dotterel is one of the species to which the '''' applies.
File:Charadrius morinellus male with chicks.jpg, Male with chicks
File:Juvenile Dotterel at Leasowe.jpg, Juvenile
File:Female Dotterel with chick - only 4th record ever.jpg, Female with chick - only the fourth record ever
File:Charadrius morinellus clutch.jpg, Nest
File:Dotterel from the Crossley ID Guide Britain and Ireland.jpg, ID composite
File:Charadrius morinellus MHNT.jpg, Egg – MHNT
]
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Ageing and sexing (PDF; 3.1 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze
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{{Authority control
Eurasian dotterel
The Eurasian dotterel (''Eudromias morinellus''), also known in Europe as just dotterel, is a small wader in the plover family of birds. It is the only species placed in the genus ''Eudromias''.
The dotterel is a brown-and-black-streaked bird ...
Holarctic birds
Birds of North Africa
Eurasian dotterel
The Eurasian dotterel (''Eudromias morinellus''), also known in Europe as just dotterel, is a small wader in the plover family of birds. It is the only species placed in the genus ''Eudromias''.
The dotterel is a brown-and-black-streaked bird ...
Eurasian dotterel
The Eurasian dotterel (''Eudromias morinellus''), also known in Europe as just dotterel, is a small wader in the plover family of birds. It is the only species placed in the genus ''Eudromias''.
The dotterel is a brown-and-black-streaked bird ...