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Little Ringed Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Thinornis dubius

Identify the Little Ringed Plover by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Little Ringed Plover is a small, slim plover of inland shores and gravel bars, recognised by its bright yellow eye-ring, black mask and narrow black breast band. It breeds on open, stony ground near fresh water across Europe, Asia and North Africa, readily using gravel pits and building sites, and winters in Africa and South Asia.

Did you know?

  • Its yellow eye-ring separates it from the larger Common Ringed Plover.
  • It readily nests in man-made sites such as gravel pits.

Voice

Sound

About the species

Identification

A small, slim wader with an all-black bill and pale, flesh or greyish legs. In breeding plumage it has a clear yellow eye-ring, a black band across the forehead and a narrow black breast band. It is smaller than Common Ringed Plover, with dull legs and no orange at the bill base. In flight it lacks a white wing bar, which helps separate it from Common Ringed Plover. Its call is a descending “pee-oo”.

Family

Charadriidae

Size

Small (sparrow)

Colours

brown, white, black, yellow

About the habitat

Fresh water with open, sparsely vegetated ground – gravel bars, river banks, lake and reservoir shores and sand and gravel pits; it generally avoids sea beaches.

Diet

Mainly insects and their larvae, small worms and tiny crustaceans picked by sight from wet mud and shingle.

Behaviour

Feeds by running, stopping and pecking, sometimes trembling a foot to flush prey. It nests in a scrape on bare gravel, relying on camouflaged eggs; both parents incubate. When disturbed it crouches or performs distraction displays near the nest. In spring males perform butterfly-like display flights with a rolling song.

Sources

Photo: Zeynel Cebeci, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charadrius dubius - Little ringed plover 05.jpg

Sound: Jens Loose, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charadrius_dubius_-_Little_Ringed_Plover_XC588230.mp3

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_ringed_plover

See also