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Australian Wildlife

  Red-capped Plover (Charadrius ruficapillus)





Red-capped Plover | Charadrius ruficapillus photo
Red-capped Plover, Moreton Island, Australia

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







RED-CAPPED PLOVER FACTS

Description
The Red-capped Plover is a common small plover native to Australia. The male has reddish brown on head and back of the neck, with black partial band on side of the neck, the back is grey and underside is white. The female is duller with less reddish marking on the head and neck. The legs are grey and bill is dark. Young birds are grey above and white below with just some buff brown on back of neck.

Size
15 cm

Habitat
mudflats, coastal wetlands, marshes, inland wetlands including in arid areas

Food
mollusks, crustaceans, some plant matter

Breeding
the nest is a shallow scrape on the sandy or stony ground usually near water

Range
found in all states of Australia

distribution map showing range of Charadrius ruficapillus 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:ruficapillus
Common Name:Red-capped 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)
  Lesser Sand Plover (C. mongolus)