Page 171 - Complete Birds of Britain and Europe (DK - RSPB)

WADERS
Order Charadriiformes Family Charadriidae Species Charadrius dubius
Little Ringed Plover

white line between
brown crown and black
forehead band
plain wings
bright yellow
small, banded eye-ring
head sandy brown
upperparts
long, tapered
wingtips stubby
black
indistinct bill
pale area
over eye
narrow black
ADULT breast-band
IN FLIGHT dull pink
black bill legs clean white underside
broken
band
dull legs
JUVENILE
mall and neat, precise in its movements
Sas well as its appearance, this is a handsome ADULT
little wader of freshwater shorelines and a variety of dry, rough, open
spaces in the “waste ground” category. It is often at the waterside in
spring and autumn, but as likely to breed on a patch of bulldozed FLIGHT: quick, low, direct with angled, pointed
rubble or coalmining waste.As such, it tends to be irregular in wings; song-flight rolling, bat-like.
occurrence, breeding for a few
years and then moving on.
VOICE Short, abrupt, whistled
piw or p’ew; song rolling, harsh
crree-crree-crree-crree in flight.
NESTING Hollow in bare
ground, usually hard to spot;
4 eggs; 1 brood;April–June.
FEEDING Stands upright,
then runs forwards and tilts to SPRING DISPLAY
pick insects and small aquatic Noisy males display on the ground with drooped wings, and also
invertebrates from ground. perform long, low song-flights over the territory. OCCURRENCE
Widespread except in extreme
SIMILAR SPECIES north. Breeds in wide variety of
natural, semi-natural, and derelict
RINGED PLOVER white stripe COMMON SANDPIPER places, from sandy and shingly
white wingbars; over eye see p.184
see p.170 shores and gravel to flat, dry areas
brighter of waste ground, mining waste,
bill longer
bill and shingly riverbeds; scarce on
brighter longer sea coasts but occasional migrant
legs tail
on coastal lagoons.
RINGED PLOVER juvenile, Seen in the UK
similar to juvenile; see p.170 J F M A M JJ A S O N D
Length 14–15cm (5 1 ⁄2 –6in) Wingspan 42–48cm (16 1 ⁄2 –19in) Weight 30–50g (1 1 ⁄16 –1 3 ⁄4 oz)
Social Winter flocks Lifespan 5–10 years Status Secure†
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