| Little Ringed Plover | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Charadriidae |
| Genus: | Charadrius |
| Species: | Charadrius dubius |
The Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius) is a small bird in the family Charadriidae.
Description[]
This small shorebird has a maximum length of 15 cm and a wingspan of 34 to 36 cm. The plumage of the wings and the back is brownish-gray, with a white belly and a black or dark brown neck. The white collar above it is white, followed by a black mask around the eyes, with a white forehead, and a brown crown with a white stripe bordering across the mask. The legs are ingrown and the feet are webbed. Unlike the Common Ringed Plover, it has a yellow eye ring. It also differs from its relative by a white stripe on the forehead and a lack of white wing stripe. Another difference is the bill; the Little Ringed Plover's bill is short and black, whereas the Common Ringed Plover's bill is orange-yellow with a black tip.
Voice[]
The voice is a pleasant trembling whistle, sometimes referred to as "kyul-kyul-kyul-kyul". The Little Ringed Plover also repeatedly produces a call described as a loud "pi-o" with a descending intonation. In flight, the bird calls off a resounding "gri-gri-gri". It performs melodic trills during courtship.
Behavior[]
The Little Ringed Plover runs quickly in short runs and flies rapidly with sharp turns, usually low above the ground. It begins to migrate to warmer countries in late July and continue in August to the first half of September.
Feeding[]
The Little Ringed Plover feeds on invertebrates and crustaceans in a rather particularly carefully concentrated way of foraging: standing and watching, running forward, pecking, then standing still again.
Breeding and Nesting[]
When spring is early, the Little Ringed Plover arrives at the nesting site in mid-April; usually, it arrives in late April or early May. Females begin to lay eggs in June. The nest is built on the ground. It is a shallow hole in the sand or pebbles without litter. The clutch consists of 4, sometimes 5 nearly cone-shaped eggs. The egg color is turquoise-blue (in unhatched eggs) or greenish-sandy (in hatched eggs) with black-brown spots and dots. Incubation begins with the laying of the first egg and lasts 23-26 days. In late June-July, the chicks hatch.
Distribution and Habitat[]
The Little Ringed Plover is a migratory shorebird found from Portugal and southern Scandinavia to Sakhalin and Japan. In the south, it is found in North Africa and Indochina. It winters in southern Europe and Asia and Africa. It lives on the sandy or pebble shores of rivers and lakes, sometimes far from water. It can also fly high in the mountains and nest in the foothills.