The name means a silly, stupid person, or an elderly person whose mental faculties are declining (like me). It was used because birds are remarkably tame
and easily hunted and is an old Scottish/English dialect word. The term has been used worldwide for waders, although some are reverting to "plover". The are only two dotterel in the genus Eudromias,
the other is South American. Breeding primarily on Arctic Tundra from Europe to Siberia, but also locally in alpine areas such as the UK and Mongolia, its numbers are threatened by climate change in the
UK, but Scotland is right on the edge of its range. I have never seen them in another country.
