page_title: Double-banded plover
section_title: Breeding
hierarchical_section_title: Double-banded plover / Behaviour / Breeding
context_page_description: The double-banded plover, known as the banded dotterel or pohowera in New Zealand, is a species of bird in the plover family. Two subspecies are recognised: the nominate Charadrius bicinctus bicinctus, which breeds throughout New Zealand, including the Chatham Islands, and Charadrius bicinctus exilis, which breeds in New Zealand's subantarctic Auckland Islands.
context_section_description: Around the month of July in New Zealand, the banded dotterels enter the breeding season, more commonly in the South Island or southern areas of the North Island such as Hawke's Bay, Marlborough, Kaikoura Peninsula, Canterbury, Otago, Stewart Island etc. These birds form seasonal monogamous pairs where once a partner is found, they remain with that one bird for the rest of the breeding season to help raise the young. During this time, the male grows colored bands on his chest prior to the beginning of the breeding season and later females are attracted by the loud calls of the male where they are then presented with several nests which they can choose between while the male puts on a defensive display, protecting his territory, where it flies towards any possible intruder in a fast butterfly-like circular motion flight. This species usually constructs nests upon slightly elevated, open patches on the sand, shells or sometimes hollows in cushion plants or between rocks which are broadly padded with various materials such as tussock tillers, smaller stones and shells, grass, lichen, moss, twigs etc.
  There can be several hundred birds in one area during this season. From August to September, the dotterels lay two to four eggs and can relay up to three times if there is a failure or predation. Incubation of these eggs generally takes 28–30 days where the young fledging period extends to around six weeks.
  Banded dotterel chicks leave their nests upon the day of hatching where they accompany their parents in the hunt for food. At the slimmest indication of potential danger, watchful adult birds sound the alarm causing the chicks to run a few feet in a scattered motion then squat with their legs doubled over beneath them and their head stretched out firmly against the ground in front of them, camouflaging into the coastal terrain around them. They remain stationed without moving until the parents decide the surrounding environment is clear and safe to move again. Unlike the young of most bird species, these chicks will be reliant to feed themselves with parents guarding close by for five to six weeks until they fledge. The parents will then stay close by for several days until the chicks join flocks and become fully independent.
  Both of the parents continue to tend their young for another two weeks when birds have grown their contour feathers and the birds all part ways. Some of these birds migrate overseas to nearby countries such as southern Australia, Tasmania or other tropic countries. Other dotterels fled to the northern areas of New Zealand in groups alongside many other adult banded dotterels and newly fledged chicks. A high percentage of all off-spring return to the breeding grounds for mating within their first year, however the rest of the generation return in their second year.
caption: Charadrius bicinctus chick (mount) in the collection of Auckland Museum
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