Greater Sand Plover - BirdForum Opus

Breeding plumage, subspecies leschenaultii
Photo © by bievreJJ
Hsinchu, Taiwan, April 2017

Charadrius leschenaultii

Identification

Non-breeding plumage. Ssp. leschenaultii
Photo © by SeeToh
Marina East Drive, Singapore, September 2017

20–25 cm (7¾-9¾ in)

Chestnut crown and upper breast
Black mask
White throat

Similar Species

Very similar to Lesser Sand Plover but differs by combination of following subtle features:

larger size
longer appearance
squarer head
thicker and longer bill with more tapered tip
longer tibia
typically paler legs usually tinged greenish or yellowish

Distribution

Breeds in south-central Asia; winters to southern Africa, southern Asia, and Australasia. Accidental vagrant to California (1 record).

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 3 subspecies¹:

C. l. columbinus:

breeds Turkey to southern Afghanistan; winters south-eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea

C. l. crassirostris:

breeds Transcaspia to south-eastern Kazakstan; winters to South Africa

C. l. leschenaultii:

Western China to southern Mongolia and southern Siberia; winters Australasia

Habitat

Tidal flats, salt pans and estuaries.

Behaviour

Diet

Insectivorous; their main diet consists of beetles, snails and worms. They also eat shrimps, crabs, termites etc.

Gallery

Click on photo for larger image

References

Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved August 2014)

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2023) Greater Sand Plover. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 30 November 2023 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Greater_Sand_Plover

External Links

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