The Double-banded Plover is a small shorebird (wader). The breeding male is white below and grey brown above with two bands across its chest: a black upper band and a wider chestnut lower band. The forehead is white from the bill to the eye, with a black band running from eye to eye like a mask, and there is a white eyebrow. The legs are greenish-yellow and the short slender bill is black. The breeding female is duller in colour with a narrower frontal bar. In non breeding Double-banded Plovers, the chest bands fade from black to a dull grey and the chestnut almost becomes obscure. Immature birds lack chest bands. In flight, the underwings are white, and there is a narrow white wingbar on the upper wing and a dark tail with whitish outer feathers. Most birds seen in Australia are in the duller non-breeding plumage. This species is also known as the Double-banded Dotterel and in New Zealand it is known as the Banded Dotterel.
