Bird name:

Common Ringed Plover

Charadrius hiaticula

Order

CHARADRIIFORMES

Family

Plovers (Charadriidae)

Code 4

CRPL

Code 6

CHAHIA

ITIS

176504

Breeding Location:

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Egg Color:

Buff, lightly spotted with brown or black

Number of Eggs:

3 - 4

Incubation Days:

21 - 27

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Pebbles, debris, plant materials.

Migration:

Migratory

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General

Common Ringed Plover: Plump little plover with dark gray-brown upperparts, pure white underparts, and strong black mask and chest band. Base of dark-tipped bill and legs are bright orange. Female has a brown cast in the black bands. Juvenile resembles female but has even more of a brown cast; also has dull orange bill and legs.

Range and Habitat

Common Ringed Plover: In North America breeds near the coasts of Greenland, Baffin Island, and Ellesmere Island. Occasionally seen as a spring migrant on the Aleutian Islands and may linger to breed.

Breeding and Nesting

Common Ringed Plover: Lays three or four buff eggs, lightly spotted with brown and black, in a simple scrape on the ground. Both parents incubate for 21 to 27 days. Chicks feed themselves but are guarded by parents until they can fly at 24 days old.

Foraging and Feeding

Common Ringed Plover: Searches for insects and aquatic invertebrates on moist beaches, mudflats, and shorelines. Walks forward several steps, pauses, then walks several more steps or dashes to catch prey.

Vocalization

Common Ringed Plover: Whistled, far-carrying "poo-ee."

Similar Species

Common Ringed Plover: Virtually identical Semipalmated Plover has bit of webbing between all toes, while the Ringed Plover is only webbed between middle and outer toes. Black mask on Semipalmated Plover stretches above the base of the gape without touching it, while the black mask on a Ringed Plover surrounds and touches the base of the gape.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Chest

Also called the breast area, it is the frontal area on the body containing the breastplate and major flight muscles.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America