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LESSER SAND PLOVER FACTS |
Description
The Lesser Sand Plover is a small wader. The non breeding plumage is grey above extending down from the shoulder to the chest. There is pale edge to the wing feathers giving a scalloped appearance. The dark eye has horizontal white band through it. The underside is white. Legs are greenish grey and bill is dark. The breeding plumage has reddish brown head cap and chest, with black face. Young birds are similar to non-breeding adults. It is similar to the Greater Sand Plover but a little smaller and has less prominent scalloping pattern in non breeding plumage and in breeding plumage, the reddish chest extends further down side than in Greater Sand Plover.
Size
20 cm
Habitat
beaches, estuaries, mudflats, sandbanks
Food
insects, crustaceans, worms
Breeding
nests in a bare scrape on the ground
Range
breeds in Turkey, Central Asia. It migrates East Africa, South Asia and Australasia in non-breeding season. In Australia it is found along beaches of New South Wales, Queensland , Northern Territory and Western Australia
Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Classification
| Class: | Aves | | Order: | Charadriiformes | | Family: | Charadriidae | | Genus: | Charadrius | | Species: | mongolus | | Common Name: | Lesser Sand Plover |
Relatives in same Genus
Kentish Plover (C. alexandrinus)
Inland Dotterel (C. australis)
Double-banded Plover (C. bicinctus)
Little Ringed Plover (C. dubius)
Ringed Plover (C. hiaticula)
Greater Sand Plover (C. leschenaultii)
Red-capped Plover (C. ruficapillus)
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