The hooded plover or hooded dotterel (Charadrius cucullatus) is a species of bird in the family Charadriidae. It is endemic to southern Australia, where it inhabits ocean beaches and subcoastal lagoons.
Taxonomy
The hooded plover was formally described in 1818 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot under the current binomial nameCharadrius cucullatus.[3] The binomial name Charadrius cucullatus was at one time treated as a junior synonym of Charadrius rubricollisGmelin, 1789,[4][5] but in 1998 the American ornithologist Storrs L. Olson designated a lectotype for C. rubricollis and made it a junior synonym of Tringa lobataLinnaeus, 1758, now the red-necked phalaropePhalaropus lobatus.[6][7] In the early 2000s the hooded plover was moved from the original genusCharadrius to the genus Thinornis, along with the shore plover.[7] A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2015 found Thinornis was embedded within the genus Charadrius.[8] This was confirmed by another study published in 2022,[9] and as a result the hooded plover was moved back to Charadrius. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.[10]
Description
A breeding pair
The hooded plover is medium in size for a plover, stocky, and pale in colour. Its length is 190 to 230 mm (7.5–9.1 in) and its wing-span 230 to 440 mm (9.1–17.3 in). It has a black hood and throat with a white collar. Its red bill has a black tip. It has a red eye ring and orange legs.[11] Underparts are white. Males and females are similar. Adults and juveniles are similar except the juveniles do not have the black head and hindneck, which are instead a sandy brown.[12]
A clutch of 1–3 eggs is laid from August to March, which includes also the peak of the Austral summer tourist season in its range and it is thereby heavily impacted by human activities.[13][14] The eggs are a matte beige or cream colour heavily sprinkled with dark brown and lavender markings, especially at the larger end of the egg. Pyriform in shape, they measure 37 mm × 27 mm (1.46 in × 1.06 in).[15] Eggs hatch in about 30 days.[15]
Food and feeding
The eastern population eats a variety of invertebrates but little is known of the diet of the western population.[13][14] Specifically it eats insects, bivalves, and sandhoppers. It is usually seen in pairs or small groups near the water. For breeding it will dig a shallow scrape in sand or gravel above high-water mark and line it with pebbles, seaweed, and other debris.[12] Males and females spend equal amounts of time incubating the eggs, although males tend to incubate more at night.[16]
Threats
The population of hooded plovers has declined in eastern Australia as a result of disturbance by people, dogs, cats and horses, as well as predation by silver gulls (Larus novaehollandiae), ravens (Corvus spp) and introduced foxes.[13][14]Foxpredation is a major threat to the western subspecies. In 2000 the number of mature individuals was estimated at 7,000.[13]
^Piersma, T.; Wiersma, P. (1996). "Family Charadriidae (Plovers)". In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 3: Hoatzin to Auks. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions. pp. 384–443 [439–440]. ISBN978-84-87334-20-7.
^Černý, David; Natale, Rossy (2022). "Comprehensive taxon sampling and vetted fossils help clarify the time tree of shorebirds (Aves, Charadriiformes)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 177: 107620. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107620. PMID36038056.
