Siberian Sand Plover - BirdForum Opus

Alternative name: Mongolian Plover

Photo by Akiko Hidaka
Tokyo, Japan, August

Charadrius mongolus

Identification

18–21 cm (7-8¼ in)

• Grey back
• White underparts
• Legs are dark and the bill black
  

Breeding

• Chestnut breast, forehead and nape
• Black eye mask
  

The female is similar but duller
Winter and juvenile birds lack the chestnut

Breeding plumage
Photo by Francksan
Hokkaido, Japan, May 2007

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.

Similar Species

Greater Sand Plover

Distribution

Breeds in northern Asia. Winters in south Asia, Africa and Australia.
Vagrants have been recorded in Europe and America.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are five races, which fall in two groups^[1]:

• 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.

Photo by Gashead
Dubai, United Arab Emirates,

• C. m. pamirensis:

• Pamirs to western China (western Xinjiang); winters to Africa and western India

• C. m. atrifrons:

• Himalayas and southern Tibet: winters from India to Sumatra

• C. m. schaeferi:

• Eastern Tibet to southern Mongolia; winters Thailand to Greater Sundas

• C. m. mongolus:

• Eastern Siberia and Russian Far East; winters Taiwan to Australia

• C. m. stegmanni:

• Kamchatka to Chukotsk Peninsula; winters to Australia

Habitat

Coastal shores, mudflats and fields

Behaviour

Breeding

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

Diet

Diet includes insects, crustaceans and annelid worms.

Vocalisation

Flight call: A hard trill.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2015. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2015, with updates to August 2015. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Collins Bird Guide ISBN 0 00 219728 6
3. Wikipedia
4. Thread in Birdforum Id forum discussing Lesser vs Greater Sand Plover identification

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Siberian Sand Plover. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 24 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Siberian_Sand_Plover

External Links

Search for photos of Siberian Sand Plover in the gallery

Search for videos of Siberian Sand Plover on BirdForum TV