Alternative name: Mongolian Plover
- 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
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
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.
- C. m. pamirensis:
- C. m. atrifrons:
- 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
- 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/
- Collins Bird Guide ISBN 0 00 219728 6
- Wikipedia
- Thread in Birdforum Id forum discussing Lesser vs Greater Sand Plover identification
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Siberian Sand Plover. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 4 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Siberian_Sand_Plover
External Links