Attendance at the nest of polyandrous Dotterel Charadrius morinellus in Finland.

The behaviour of a polyandrous female Dotterel was studied in 1970 at Varriotunturi, eastern Finnish Lapland (67degree 44’N, 29degree 37’E). Five days after the completion of her first clutch, a second one was started in which both parents shared the incubation duties. However, during the first week the q participated only a little, and was often seen in the area with an unringed bird. The nest incubated by both the male and the female remained unoccupied for only 3.8% of the visits, a successful nest incubated only by a male for 10.1%, and an unsuccessful nest incubated almost only by a male for 23.0% of the visits. In only four of 32 nests at Varrio femalefemale took some part in incubation.

Pulliainen E. & Saari L, ARDEA 85 (1): 67-71.