Charadrius morinellus
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
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 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 has rated it as being of "least concern".
The Eurasian dotterel was formerly described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Charadrius morinellus. The species... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hortobágy National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 2 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 4 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 5 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 6 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barcelona | 🇪🇸 Spain |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Eurasian Dotterel sighting in Doñana National Park on a given day, based on 54 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 183rd most-seen of the 234 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Eurasian Dotterel in Doñana National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February to December, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Eurasian Dotterel sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Eurasian Dotterel sightings, Doñana National Park ranks 3rd at under 5%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Hortobágy National Park (Hungary, under 5%) and Cévennes National Park (France, under 5%).
Same genus: Charadrius
The closest relatives of the Eurasian Dotterel that you can see in Doñana National Park (genus Charadrius, Holarctic Ringed Plovers and Allies) are Common Ringed Plover (about 30%) and Kentish Plover (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Eurasian Dotterel is recorded against all the birds logged in Doñana National Park (54 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
