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Australian Wildlife

  Lesser Sand Plover (Charadrius mongolus)





Lesser Sand Plover | Charadrius mongolus photo
Charadrius mongolus, Summer plumage

Image by Alnus - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

Lesser Sand Plover | Charadrius mongolus photo
Mongolian Plover - in winter plumage

Image by Lip Kee Yap - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

Lesser Sand Plover | Charadrius mongolus photo
Lesser Sand Plover Charadrius mongolus & Sanderling Calidris alba in Chilika, Orissa, India.

Image by J.M.Garg - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

Lesser Sand Plover | Charadrius mongolus photo
Lesser Sand Plover (Charadrius mongolus)

Image by Lip Kee - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







LESSER SAND PLOVER FACTS

Description
The Lesser Sand Plover is a small wader. The non breeding plumage is grey above extending down from the shoulder to the chest. There is pale edge to the wing feathers giving a scalloped appearance. The dark eye has horizontal white band through it. The underside is white. Legs are greenish grey and bill is dark. The breeding plumage has reddish brown head cap and chest, with black face. Young birds are similar to non-breeding adults. It is similar to the Greater Sand Plover but a little smaller and has less prominent scalloping pattern in non breeding plumage and in breeding plumage, the reddish chest extends further down side than in Greater Sand Plover.

Size
20 cm

Habitat
beaches, estuaries, mudflats, sandbanks

Food
insects, crustaceans, worms

Breeding
nests in a bare scrape on the ground

Range
breeds in Turkey, Central Asia. It migrates East Africa, South Asia and Australasia in non-breeding season. In Australia it is found along beaches of New South Wales, Queensland , Northern Territory and Western Australia

distribution map showing range of Charadrius mongolus in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.



Classification
Class:Aves
Order:Charadriiformes
Family:Charadriidae
Genus:Charadrius
Species:mongolus
Common Name:Lesser Sand Plover

Relatives in same Genus
  Kentish Plover (C. alexandrinus)
  Inland Dotterel (C. australis)
  Double-banded Plover (C. bicinctus)
  Little Ringed Plover (C. dubius)
  Ringed Plover (C. hiaticula)
  Greater Sand Plover (C. leschenaultii)
  Red-capped Plover (C. ruficapillus)