Common ringed plover

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Common ringed plover
Adult
Calls recorded in Norfolk, England

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Charadriidae
Genus: Charadrius
Species:
C. hiaticula
Binomial name
Charadrius hiaticula

The common ringed plover or ringed plover (Charadrius hiaticula) is a species of bird in the family Charadriidae. It breeds across much of northern Eurasia, as well as Greenland.

Common ringed plover foraging at the shoreline.

Taxonomy

The common ringed plover was

type locality as "Europa & America" but this is now restricted to Sweden.[3] The specific epithet hiaticula is late Medieval Latin for a plover.[4]

Three subspecies are recognised:[5]

The subspecies C. h. psammodromus is poorly differentiated from the

nominate and is not recognised by some ornithologists.[6]

Description

Adults are 17–19.5 cm (6.7–7.7 in) in length with a 35–41 cm (14–16 in) wingspan. They have a grey-brown back and wings, a white belly, and a white breast with one black neckband. They have a brown cap, a white forehead, a black mask around the eyes and a short orange and black bill. The legs are orange and only the outer two toes are slightly webbed, unlike the slightly smaller but otherwise very similar semipalmated plover, which has all three toes slightly webbed, and also a marginally narrower breast band; it was in former times included in the present species. Juvenile ringed plovers are duller than the adults in colour, with an often incomplete grey-brown breast band, a dark bill and dull yellowish-grey legs.

This species differs from the smaller little ringed plover in leg colour, the head pattern, and the lack of an obvious yellow eye-ring.

Distribution and habitat

The common ringed plover's breeding habitat is open ground on beaches or flats across northern

Eurosiberia and in Arctic northeast Canada. Some birds breed inland, and in western Europe they nest as far south as northern France
. They nest on the ground in an open area with little or no plant growth.

Common ringed plovers are migratory and winter in coastal areas south to Africa. In Norway, geolocators have revealed that adult breeding birds migrate to West Africa.[7] Many birds in Great Britain and northern France are resident throughout the year.

Behaviour and ecology

Eggs and newly hatched chicks

Breeding

Common ringed plovers breed from one year of age. They are seasonally

nidifugous. They are cared for by both parents and can feed themselves. While small they are brooded at night and in bad weather. They fledge when aged around 24 days.[6]

If a potential predator approaches the nest, the adult will walk away from the scrape, calling to attract the intruder and feigning a broken wing.[8]

Food and feeding

These birds forage for food on beaches, tidal flats and fields, usually by sight. They eat insects, crustaceans and worms and forage both by day and by night. They sometimes use foot-trembling to reveal location of prey.[6]

Conservation status

The common ringer plover has an extremely large range with a large population size and is therefore evaluated by the

taxa to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.[9]

  • Mating behaviour
    Mating behaviour
  • Juvenile
    Juvenile
  • Adult
    Adult
  • Flock in flight, with ruddy turnstones
    Flock in flight, with ruddy turnstones
  • Charadrius hiaticula hiaticula - MHNT
    Charadrius hiaticula hiaticula -
    MHNT
  • Charadrius hiaticula chick in Iceland
    Charadrius hiaticula chick in Iceland

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T22693759A155487854.en
    . Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  2. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 150.
  3. ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 247.
  4. ^ Jobling, James A. "hiaticula". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 13 February 2025.
  5. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2024). "Buttonquail, thick-knees, sheathbills, plovers, oystercatchers, stilts, painted-snipes, jacanas, Plains-wanderer, seedsnipes". IOC World Bird List Version 14.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 13 February 2025.
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-84-87334-20-7
    .
  7. doi:10.1111/ibi.12424
    .
  8. ^ Cramp 1983, pp. 136–136.
  9. ^ "Species". Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds. Retrieved 14 February 2025.

Sources
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