Little ringed plover

The little ringed plover (Charadrius dubius) is a small plover native to the Old World. It has mostly brown upperparts, a black neckband and a black mask around the eye with a noticeable yellow eyering. Its forehead, belly and the rest of the breast are white. A migratory species, it breeds in open gravel areas near freshwater, including gravel pits, islands and river edges. Its diet consists mainly of insects and worms, which it forages for in muddy areas.

Little ringed plover
In Kesmeburun, Osmaniye, Turkey
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Charadriidae
Genus:	Charadrius
Species:	C. dubius
Binomial name
Charadrius dubius Scopoli, 1786
Range of Ch. dubius   Breeding   Resident   Passage   Non-breeding
Synonyms
Thinornis dubius

Taxonomy

The little ringed plover was formally described by French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat in 1786. Its generic name Charadrius is Late Latin for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. It derives from the Ancient Greek kharadrios, a bird found in river valleys (kharadra, "ravine"). The specific dubius is Latin for doubtful, since Sonnerat thought this bird might be just a variant of the common ringed plover.^[2] Three subspecies recognized.

• C. d. curonicus J. F. Gmelin, 1789 - from Eurasia, Russian Fareast, Japan, Korea, China to North Africa. Winters in the Sahara and Sri Lanka to Indonesia and China.
• C. d. jerdoni (Legge, 1880) - from India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan to South East Asia.
• C. d. dubius Scopoli, 1786 - from the Philippines, New Guinea to Bismarck Archipelago.

Description

Adult little ringed plovers 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 with white above and a short dark bill. The legs are flesh-coloured and the toes are all webbed.

This species differs from the larger common ringed plover (Charadrius hiaticula) in the head pattern, leg colour, and the presence of a clear yellow eye-ring.

Gallery

• 
  Mating, the male bird hits the cloaca of the female bird
• 
  Egg of Charadrius dubius, MHNT
• 
  Little ringed plover chick
• 
  A juvenile at Pulicat Lake, India
• 
  At Fulzar Dam, Jamnagar
• 
  At Padma River, Bangladesh
• 
  Adult in breeding plumage at Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary, Gujarat, India
• 
  In Malta
• 
  Near Roermond, Netherlands

Habitats and range

Their breeding habitat is open gravel areas near freshwater, including gravel pits, islands and river edges across the Palearctic including northwestern Africa. They nest on the ground on stones with little or no plant growth. Both males and females take turns incubating the eggs.

They are migratory and winter in Africa. These birds forage for food on muddy areas, usually by sight. They eat insects and worms.

Conservation

The little ringed plover is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. It is listed as a least concern species by the IUCN.^[1]