Many Double-banded Plovers breed on shingle banks in the beds of braided rivers in New Zealand. After breeding has finished, these inland-breeding birds fly across the Tasman Sea, where they spend the winter foraging on mudflats and estuaries in eastern Australia, usually arriving in March or April. Many are still in their breeding plumage, with broad bands of blackish, white and rich chestnut across the breast, though, after a while, these fade to a greyish smudge.
