Medium small. Chunky with short bicolored bill. Sexes alike.
Adults: Breeding: Forehead, white, pointed at the rear in shape, sometimes with a narrow black line at base of bill. Eyestripe, from lores to ear, black. Forecrown, black. Eyebrow, short, white, behind eye only. Eye, dark brown. Eyering, dull yellow orange and narrow. Crown, hind neck, back, rump, uppertail coverts, wing coverts, greyish-brown, greater coverts tipped white forming a conspicuous wing bar with white shafts of dark brown flight feathers. A narrow collar, white, and bordered behind by black, which continues forming a broad black breast band. Tail, brown, outmost feathers nearly all white. Throat, breast, belly, undertail coverts, underwing, white. Bill, orange yellow, with distinct black tip. Legs, orange yellow. Non-breeding: Black of head replaced with dark brown. Eyebrow, buff. Forehead, buff. Breastband browner or mixed black and brown.
Immatures: Similar to non-breeding adult, but paler. Bill, almost entirely black.
Other Names (World)
Common Ringed Plover, Greater Ringed Plover, Ringed Dotterel, Ringed Plover, Stone Plover
Derivation
Cha-rad'-ri-us - Gk, charadrios, valley bird: hi-a-ti-cu'-la - L., hiatus, a cleft or opening; cula, probably a misspelling of -cola, from L., colo, I inhabit
Habitat
Coastal regions, including tidal mudflats, sand banks, estuaries and occasionally shingle beaches.
Afghanistan (P), Albania (NB), Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan (NB), Bahrain, Belarus (B), Belgium (B) (NB), Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, British Indian Ocean Territory, Bulgaria (NB), Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Côte dIvoire, Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska), Cyprus (NB), Czech Republic (B), Denmark (B) (NB) (P), Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia (B) (P), Ethiopia, Faroe Islands (B) (NB), Finland (B) (P), France (B) (NB) (P), Gabon, Gambia, Germany (B) (NB) (P), Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece (NB) (P), Greenland (B), Guam (NB), Guinea, Guinea-bissau, Hungary, Iceland (B) (P), India, Iran [Islamic Republic of], Iraq (NB) (P), Ireland (B) (NB), Israel, Italy (NB) (P), Jordan (NB) (P), Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan (P), Latvia (B), Lebanon, Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Lithuania (B), Luxembourg, Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of] (NB), Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands Antilles (B) (NB), Niger, Nigeria, Northern Mariana Islands (NB), Norway (B) (P), Oman, Pakistan, Palau (NB), Poland (B) (P), Portugal (NB), Qatar, Réunion, Romania (P), Russia (Asian) (B), Russia (Central Asian) (B), Russia (European) (B), Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovakia (Slovak Republic), Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain (NB), Sri Lanka, Sudan, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (B), Swaziland, Sweden (B) (P), Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tanzania [United Republic of], Togo, Tunisia (NB), Turkey (NB), Uganda, Ukraine (B) (P), United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom (B) (NB) (P), USA (B), Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Vagrant to Australia, Bangladesh, Barbados, Brunei Darussalam, China (mainland), Hong Kong (China), Japan, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand, North Korea, Philippines, Singapore, St Helena, Taiwan (China), Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago.
Unknown to Micronesia [Federated States of].
Population
Estimated population is 360,000 - 1,300,000 (2010).
Status LC
Migratory stop-over habitats are threatened with pollution, drainage and scrub overgrowth as land is abandoned and land management practices are changed. Susceptibility to avian influenza and predation by freal American Mink (Neovison vison) are also threats.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Habits
Singly or in pairs.
Food
Invertebrates, molluscs, shrimps and insect larvae.
Voice
A clear, 'dzerwit' and a fluted 'too-ee' uttered in flight. A quiet, whistle 'tooip'. A louder 'te-lee-a te-lee-a' in alarm.
Common Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula) [XC572188]
by Ga\u00ebtan Mineau from Hallands V\u00e4der\u00f6, Sweden (call)
Common Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula) [XC440164]
by Stanislas Wroza from Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway (call, song)
Nest
A hollow in sand or shingle, lined with small pebbles or shell fragments, near water. IN solitary pairs or loose semi-colonial groups.
Eggs (Guide)
3 - 4; slightly glossy, or dull, pale buff with black spots and blotches; pyriform. Incubation: 24 - 25 days.
Subspecies
Probably forms superspecies with Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) and sometimes considered conspecific.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
hiaticula Linnaeus, 1758 - North-eastern Canada through Greenland and Iceland to southern Scandinavia, and south to north-western France. Winters from British Is south to Africa.
tundrae (Lowe, 1915) - Northern Scandinavia and northern Russia. Winters from Caspian Sea and south-western Asia south to southern Africa.
Similar Species
Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius)
Smaller. Non-breeding with non-breeding. Has a longer, thinner black bill, with base of lower mandible yellow. Head is not as broad. Legs, longer and yellow or pale pink. In flight, wing bar is barely visible. Breastband is narrower and incomplete.
Long-billed Plover (Charadrius placidus)
Larger. Less plump and more elongated due to a longer tail. Eyestripe is dark brown. White collar is narrower. White wing bar is not as prominent. Tail lacks the black subterminal band.
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