Lesser Sand-Plover

Charadrius mongolusOrder: CHARADRIIFORMES Family: Plovers (Charadriidae)

Codes: Common Name: LSAP Scientific Name: CHAMON ITIS Taxonomic No.: 176514

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Overview

Lesser Sand-Plover: Medium-sized, chunky plover with gray upperparts, white underparts, and bright rust-brown breast band and nape. The head has gray-brown cap and thick black eyestripe broken by a white forehead. Throat is white with a black border. Bill is black and legs and feet are yellow-green.

Range and Habitat

Lesser Sand-Plover: Asian species; rare migrant on Aleutians and islands off western Alaska. Casual in summer in western and northwestern Alaska, where it has bred; accidental in eastern North America. Prefers tundra and alpine tundra for nesting; winters on coastal tidal flats, estuaries, and sandy beaches.

Topo Map: Sandpiper-like Body

Voice Text

"kruit - kruit"

Interesting Facts

The Lesser Sand-plover was first described by Peter Simon Pallas, a German zoologist and botanist, in 1776.

It is also known as the Mongolian Plover, the Tibetan Plover, the Mongolian Sandplover, the Mongolian Dotterel, and the Mongolian sand-dotterel.

They forage using a run-and-pause technique, rather than the steady probing of some other wader groups.

A group of plovers has many collective nouns, including a "brace", "congregation", "deceit", "ponderance" and "wing" of plovers.

Bird Term Glossary

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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.

Lesser Sand-Plover

● Song: "kruit - kruit"

● Foraging & Feeding: Lesser Sand-Plover: Feeds on insects, mollusks, crustaceans, and worms; forages on the ground.

● Breeding & nesting: Lesser Sand-Plover: Three red buff to olive buff eggs spotted with brown and black are laid in a shallow ground hollow lined with dried vegetation and seeds, usually built near water. Incubation ranges from 24 to 27 days and is carried out by both parents. Young start to fly at 26 to 31 days. Sometimes raises two broods per year.

● Similar species: Lesser Sand-Plover: In winter, Little Ringed Plover has pale legs and white collar.

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: Lesser Sand-Plover: Asian species; rare migrant on Aleutians and islands off western Alaska. Casual in summer in western and northwestern Alaska, where it has bred; accidental in eastern North America. Prefers tundra and alpine tundra for nesting; winters on coastal tidal flats, estuaries, and sandy beaches.

^BreedingMonogamous

^PopulationCasual on the West coast

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight2 Ounces

Sandpiper-like Body

Underparts

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

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

Cap

The area on top of the head of the bird.

Nape

Also called the hindneck or collar, it is the back of the neck where the head joins the body.

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