Notes on the behaviour of the New Zealand Shore Plover

Abstract

The Shore Plover is the rarest of the endemic New Zealand plovers with only eighty-two individuals at the time of my visit. The species breeds on a single island, South East Island, of the Chatham Island group, about 800 kilometres east of Christchurch, and has been absent from the main islands of New Zealand for nearly 100 years. The birds are found primarily along rocky shores adjacent to extensive wave-washed rock-shelves on which the birds feed. The birds were paired and territorial in the post-breeding season (March). Audiospectrograms of vocalizations are given and the behavioural circumstances in which they occurred are described.