Adults: Breeding: Back, center of rump, wing coverts, greyish-brown, with greater coverts tipped white forming a broad white wingbar with white bases to secondaries. Sides of rump, white. Forehead, most of underparts, underwing, white. Eye, dark brown. Lores, stripe through and below eye to ear, forecrown, black (male) or brown (female). Crown, rufous brown. White patch behind eye. Nape, hind neck, narrow breast band, rufous, sharply contrasting with white throat and belly. Tail, dark brown, darker near tip and tipped white. Outer webs of outer two pairs, white. Bill, black. Legs, mostly pale greenish-grey but variable from yellowish to almost black. Non-breeding: All black/dark brown of face and chestnut replaced by brown. Eyebrow, whiter. Breastband reduced to patches on sides, rarely connected by a narrow line.
Immatures: Buffer, including patches on sides of breast..
Other Names (World)
Greater Sandplover, Greater Sand Plover, Great Dotterel, Large Dotterel, Large-billed Dotterel, Great Sand-dotterel, Large Sand-dotterel, Large-billed Sand-dotterel, Geoffroy's Plover, Greater Sand-Plover
Greater Sand Plover (Charadrius leschenaultii) [XC880883]
by id from Dahab, South Sinai Governorate, Lagoon and surrounding wasteland, Egypt (call)
Greater Sand Plover (Charadrius leschenaultii) [XC793867]
by Ken Behrens from Saintsagaan, Dundgovi, Cyprus (flight call)
Nest
A depression in the sand and fine shingle on the borders of a lake.
Eggs (Guide)
3, occasionally 4; dull yellow or green-tinged, marked all over with spots, streaks and scribbles of brown or black with underlying markings of light and dark grey; oval to pyriform; about 40 x 29 mm.
Subspecies
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
columbinus Wagler, 1829 - Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Armenia, Azerbaijan and southern Afghanistan. Winters Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and south-eastern Mediterranean.
crassirostris (Severtsov, 1873) - Transcaspia to south-eastern Kazakhstan. Winters in eastern & south-eastern Africa. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Wilson's Plover (Charadrius wilsonia).
leschenaultii Lesson, 1826 - Western China (Dzungaria), southern Mongolia (northern Gobi Desert), southern Siberia (Tuvinskaya) and Altai Mts. Winters Australasia.
scythicus Carlos, Roselaar & Voisin, 2012 - Transcaspia to south-eastern Kazakhstan. Winters to South Africa.
Similar Species
Mongolian Plover (Charadrius mongolus)
Smaller. Bill finer. Face paler. Non-breeding with non-breeding. Lores dark-brown. Dark eye-patch. Dark brown-grey above. Faint grey breast band. Narrower white wing bar.
Oriental Plover (Charadrius veredus)
Eyebrow, longer and more distinct. Underwing, all dark. Bill, finer, black. Legs, yellowish or pinkish yellow.
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
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet