CreatureData

Wrybill

Anarhynchus frontalis Quoy & Gaimard, 1832

VUVulnerablebirds

The wrybill (Anarhynchus frontalis) is a species in the family Charadriidae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 56.7 g to 58.6 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Vulnerable.

Wrybill (Anarhynchus frontalis)
Photo: Renke Lühken · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the wrybill

Weight
56.7 g – 58.6 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
16 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
riverinesrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
30.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
2src for Young per litter or clutch
Litters or clutches a year
2src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Partialsrc for Migration
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the wrybill 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 wrybill 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

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

What is the wrybill?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The wrybill or wrybill plover (Anarhynchus frontalis) (Māori: ngutuparore) is a species of plover endemic to New Zealand. It is the only species of bird in the world with a beak that is bent sideways in one direction, always to the right (in the crossbills, e.g. Loxia pytyopsittacus, the tips of the upper and lower mandibles cross because they are bent sideways in opposite directions, sometimes left over right and sometimes right over left). A 2015 study found it to be within the Charadrius clade (although it is now classified in the genus Anarhynchus), with other New Zealand plovers its closest relatives; the nearest being the New Zealand dotterel or New Zealand plover (Anarhynchus obscurus), and then the double-banded plover or banded dotterel (Anarhynchus bicinctus).

It lays its eggs among the rocks along rivers and distracts intruders by pretending to be in distress and moving away from its clutch.

It is rated as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List of Threatened Species.

From the Wikipedia article “Wrybill” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wrybill&oldid=1354710637), 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 wrybill endangered?

The wrybill is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.

  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 Vulnerable species.

How is the wrybill classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCharadriiformes
  5. familyCharadriidae
  6. genusAnarhynchus
  7. SpeciesAnarhynchus frontalis Quoy & Gaimard, 1832
Other names and names in other languages (42)
  • ملوي المنقارArabic
  • رايبيلEgyptian Arabic
  • corriol bectortCatalan
  • kulík křivozobýCzech
  • gylfingamWelsh
  • SkævnæbDanish
  • SchiefschnabelGerman
  • tordabeka pluvioEsperanto
  • Chorlito PiquituertoSpanish
  • Chorlitejo piquituertoSpanish
  • käändnokk-tüllEstonian
  • نوکتابیدهPersian
  • kieronokkatylliFinnish
  • Pluvier anarhynqueFrench
  • Gravelot anarhynqueFrench
  • חופמי עקום-מקורHebrew
  • krivokljuni kulikCroatian
  • ferdecsőrű lileHungarian
  • Ծուռքիթ քարադրArmenian
  • BeccotortoItalian
  • ハシマガリチドリJapanese
  • kreivasnapis kirlikasLithuanian
  • Ngutu pareMāori
  • NgutuparoreMāori
  • scheefsnavelplevierDutch
  • SkeivnebbloNorwegian Nynorsk
  • skjevnebbloNorwegian
  • skrętodzióbPolish
  • batuíra-de-bico-tortoPortuguese
  • borrelho-de-bico-tortoPortuguese
  • Кривоносый зуёкRussian
  • Кривоклювый зуёкRussian
  • kulík krivozobýSlovak
  • Krivokljuni žalarSerbian
  • SkroadnibSaterland Frisian
  • snednäbbSwedish
  • EğrigagaTurkish
  • Eğri Gagalı CılıbıtTurkish
  • пісочник криводзьобийUkrainian
  • 弯嘴鸻Chinese
  • 弯嘴鸻属Chinese
  • 彎嘴鴴Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the wrybill

Other species in the same genus Anarhynchus.

Pond bird

Anarhynchus nivosus

CharadriidaeNo free photo yet

CompareWrybill vs Pond bird

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the wrybill?

An adult wrybill weighs 56.7 g – 58.6 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the wrybill live?

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

Is the wrybill endangered?

The wrybill is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.

What kind of animal is the wrybill?

The wrybill (Anarhynchus frontalis) 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). Wrybill (Anarhynchus frontalis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/wrybill

MLA

“Wrybill (Anarhynchus frontalis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/wrybill.

BibTeX
@misc{wrybill_2026,
  title = {Wrybill (Anarhynchus frontalis)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/wrybill},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}