CreatureData

Black-fronted dotterel

Elseyornis melanops (Vieillot, 1818)

LCLeast Concernbirds

The black-fronted dotterel (Elseyornis melanops) is a species in the family Charadriidae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 28.5 g to 33 g and live up to 6.92 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Black-fronted dotterel (Elseyornis melanops)
Photo: JJ Harrison ( https://www.jjharrison.com.au/ ) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the black-fronted dotterel

Weight
28.5 g – 33 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
33 cm – 35 cmsrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
6.92 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
wetlandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
25 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
3src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Partialsrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

How big is the black-fronted dotterel?

BLACK-FRONTED DOTTEREL · WINGSPAN 35 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 35 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the black-fronted dotterel is about 21% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the black-fronted dotterel live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The black-fronted dotterel is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Why a country list is not a range map

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the black-fronted dotterel?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The black-fronted dotterel (Thinornis melanops) is a small plover in the family Charadriidae that is found throughout much of Australia and New Zealand.

From the Wikipedia article “Black-fronted dotterel” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black-fronted_dotterel&oldid=1379078153), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the black-fronted dotterel endangered?

The black-fronted dotterel is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the black-fronted dotterel classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCharadriiformes
  5. familyCharadriidae
  6. genusElseyornis
  7. SpeciesElseyornis melanops (Vieillot, 1818)

Synonyms Charadrius melanops, Charadrius melanops marngli, Charadrius melanops melanops, Charadrius nigrifrons, Thinornis melanops

Other names and names in other languages (24)
  • Black-fronted ploverEnglish
  • corriol de front negreCatalan
  • kulík černočelýCzech
  • Sortpandet PræstekraveDanish
  • Schwarzstirn-RegenpfeiferGerman
  • MaskenregenpfeiferGerman
  • Chorlitejo frentinegroSpanish
  • mudatüllEstonian
  • mustaotsatylliFinnish
  • Pluvier à face noireFrench
  • crnočeli kulikCroatian
  • tavi lileHungarian
  • Corriere fronteneraItalian
  • カタアカチドリJapanese
  • juodakaktis kirlikasLithuanian
  • brunskulderloNorwegian Bokmål
  • maskerplevierDutch
  • sieweczka czarnoczelnaPolish
  • batuíra-de-fronte-pretaPortuguese
  • borrelho-de-testa-pretaPortuguese
  • Чернолобый зуёкRussian
  • kulík čiernočelýSlovak
  • svartpannad pipareSwedish
  • пісочник чорнолобийUkrainian

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the black-fronted dotterel

Other species in the same family Charadriidae.

VU, Vulnerable
Grey plover (Pluvialis squatarola)

Grey plover

Pluvialis squatarola

Charadriidae

CompareBlack-fronted dotterel vs Northern lapwingBlack-fronted dotterel vs Little ringed ploverBlack-fronted dotterel vs Grey ploverBlack-fronted dotterel vs Common ringed plover

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the black-fronted dotterel?

An adult black-fronted dotterel weighs 28.5 g – 33 g and has a wingspan of 33 cm – 35 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the black-fronted dotterel live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the black-fronted dotterel for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the black-fronted dotterel endangered?

The black-fronted dotterel is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

How long does the black-fronted dotterel live?

The black-fronted dotterel has a recorded lifespan of 6.92 years.

What kind of animal is the black-fronted dotterel?

The black-fronted dotterel (Elseyornis melanops) belongs to the family Charadriidae in the order Charadriiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Black-fronted dotterel (Elseyornis melanops). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-fronted-dotterel

MLA

“Black-fronted dotterel (Elseyornis melanops).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-fronted-dotterel.

BibTeX
@misc{black_fronted_dotterel_2026,
  title = {Black-fronted dotterel (Elseyornis melanops)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-fronted-dotterel},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}