Charadrius obscurus
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The New Zealand dotterel (Anarhynchus obscurus, synonym: Charadrius obscurus) is a species of shorebird found only in certain areas of New Zealand. It is also called the New Zealand plover or red-breasted plover, and its Māori names include tūturiwhatu, pukunui, and kūkuruatu.
There are two subspecies. The southern subspecies is critically endangered and was nearing extinction with about 70 individuals remaining in 1992. Conservation measures increased this nearly 300 by 2010, but a further decline has occurred to an estimated 101 individuals in 2024.
The New Zealand plover was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the plovers in the genus Charadrius and coined the binomial name Charadrius obscurus. Gmelin's description was based on the "Dusky plover" that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his A General Synopsis of Birds. The species had been collected in April 1773 on James Cook's second voyage to the South Pacific at Dusky Sound, South Island, New Zealand. The specific epithet obscurus is...
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rakiura National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Auckland | 🇳🇿 New Zealand |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Red-Breasted Dotterel sighting in Auckland on a given day, based on 1,031 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 35th most-seen of the 98 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Red-Breasted Dotterel in Auckland on a given day, against about 10% in February, April–June and August, the lowest months.
Only Auckland, in our data
Auckland is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Red-Breasted Dotterel sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-Breasted Dotterel is recorded against all the birds logged in Auckland (1,031 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
