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Alternative name: Mongolian Plover

Charadrius mongolus

Photo by Akiko Hidaka
Photo taken: Tokyo, Japan

[edit] Identification

Grey backs and white underparts. Chestnut breast, forehead and nape, black eye mask. The female is duller, and winter and juvenile birds lack the chestnut. Legs are dark and the bill black.

The two groups mentioned under taxonomy differ in several characters, such that a member of the mongolus group on average are larger than an atrifrons sand plover, and mongolus have mottled flanks where atrifrons have clean white flanks.

[edit] Distribution

Almost worldwide.

[edit] Taxonomy

There are five races, which fall in two groups:

• mongulus are the large east Asian forms, C. m. mongolus and C. m. stegmanni which are sometimes given specific status as Mongolian Plover, Charadrius mongolus.
• atrifrons consists of atrifrons, pamirensis and schaeferi which, if the taxonomic split is accepted, becomes a narrower Lesser Sandplover Charadrius atrifrons.

[edit] Habitat

[edit] Behaviour

It nests in a bare ground scrape, laying 3 eggs.

Diet includes insects, crustaceans and annelid worms.

The flight call is a hard trill.

[edit] References

1. Thread in Birdforum Id forum discussing Lesser vs Greater Sand Plover identification

[edit] External Links

• View more images of this species on the ABID
• View more images of this species on Orientalbirdimages