- Dromas ardeola
Identification
38–41 cm (15-16 in)
Large avocet-like wader. White with black wing band
- White body
- Black back
- Black primaries
- Short grey tail
- Black, dagger shaped bill
- Long blue-grey legs
- Webbed feet
Sexes similar
Distribution
Coasts of northern Indian Ocean.
Breeds from Somalia and Madagascar east to western India. In nonbreeding season found along the whole coast from South Africa east to Thailand. Most birds winter in India, Tanzania, Kenya and the Arabian Peninsula.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species[1].
Habitat
Sandy coast-lines and islands. Lagoons, intertidal sandflats and estuaries.
Behaviour
Diet
The diet consists mostly of crabs, with the addition of other crustaceans, small molluscs and worms.
Breeding
They are colonial nesters. the nest is in 1.5m long burrows in sand dunes. They lay a single egg.
Vocalisation
Call: crow-ow-ow
Recording by Alok Tewari
Jamnagar, Coastal Gujarat, India, Jan-2015
Call given by a large group in flight and coming in to land.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Britannica.com
- Wikipedia
- animals.jrank.org
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2021) Crab-plover. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 April 2021 from https://www.birdforum.net/wiki/Crab-plover
External Links
