Medium small. Long, thin bill, long dark legs, dark patches at sides of breast. Sexes similar.
Adults: Non-breeding: Black areas of breeding male plumage replaced by dark brown or grey brown. Crown, nape, greyish-brown.
Male: Breeding: Forehead, eyebrow, collar, underparts, including underwing, white. Lores, eyestripe, forecrown, patches at the sides of breast, black. None of the patches join. Eye, dark brown. Crown, nape, rufous brown. Back, wing coverts, grey, greater and primary coverts tipped white forming a white wing bar with white bases to primaries and secondaries. Center of rump, central tail feathers, dark brown. Sides of rump, outer tail feathers, white. Bill, black. Legs, dark grey, often with yellowish or olive wash.
Female: Breeding: Black areas of breeding male plumage replaced by dark brown or grey brown. Crown, nape, greyish-brown.
Immatures: Similar to non-breeding adult but forehead and eyebrow, buffy, and white edges to feathers on upperparts.
Other Names (World)
Kentish Plover, Snowy Plover, Sandplover
Population
Estimated population is 300,000 - 460,000 (2010).
Status LC
Habitat disturbance, degradation and loss of wetland habitat and susceptibility to avian botulism are the main threats.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Food
Small worms, crustaceans, molluscs and insects.
Voice
A sharp, 'twit' or 'wit' in flight, and a rougher, 'pirr'. A short 'kip' or 'peep' sounds.
Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) [XC839071]
by Bo Shunqi \u8584\u987a\u5947 from Farm, Fengxian, Shang Hai Shi, China (alarm call, call)
Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) [XC836805]
by Ray Tsu \u8bf8\u4ec1 from Jiuduansha Wetland National Nature Reserve, Shanghai, China (call, flight call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Does not breed in Australia. Breeds in northern Africa, Eurasia and the Americas.
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Nest
A shallow scrape in the ground, lined with shells and pebbles, usually near water.
Eggs (Guide)
3; not glossy, pale buff, well sprinkled with black spots; pyriform. Incubation: 24 days. Eggs smaller and less pyriform (more ellipsoidal) than those of the Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula).
Subspecies
Forms superspecies with White-fronted Plover (Charadrius marginatus), Javan Plover (Charadrius javanicus) and Red-capped Plover (Charadrius ruficapillus). All have on occasion been considered conspecific.
In contrast, subspecies nivosus and occidentalis sometimes considered to constitute one or two additional distinct species. Part of population on Gulf of Mexico often separated as subspecies tenuirostris, on basis of supposedly paler coloration, but many recent authors include it in nivosus.
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
alexandrinus Linnaeus, 1758 - Western Europe, eastern Atlantic Is and northern Africa (south to Senegal) east through Mediterranean, north-eastern Africa, Middle East, south-western and central Asia to Russian Far East and north-eastern China. Winters south to sub-Saharan Africa, southern Asia and western Indonesia.
dealbatus (Swinhoe, 1870) - Southern Japan, Ryukyu Is and eastern and south-eastern China. Winters south to Philippines and Borneo. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, White-faced Plover (Charadrius dealbatus).
seebohmi Hartert & Jackson, AC, 1915 - South-eastern India and Sri Lanka.
nivosus (Cassin, 1858) - Western, central and south-central USA, north-western, central and eastern Mexico, Bahamas, Greater Antilles and Netherlands Antilles. Winters south to Panama. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus).
occidentalis (Cabanis, 1872) - Coastal Peru to south-central Chile. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus).
nihonensis Deignan, 1941 - South-eastern Russia, north-eastern, eastern China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
Similar Species
Red-capped Plover (Charadrius ruficapillus)
Slightly smaller. Back and underwing coverts, mottled. Lacks a white collar. Head and shoulders are fox-red rather than cinnamon. Eyestripe, extends only to area immediately behind eye. Dark bands on sides of breast lighter and shorter. Bill, thicker and shorter. Legs, shorter and black.
Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius)
Slightly smaller. Juveniles and non-breeding individuals with a broken breast band. Has a complete white collar with a dark border. A slightly shorter and finer bill.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
BirdLife International Species Factsheet