Singapore and tropical Asia, Japan and temperate East Asia
Habitat
coast and mangroves
Colour
brown, white, black
Size
small (under about 20 cm)
IOC breeding range
PAL, AF, OR (widespread, coastal and inland s Palearctic to ne, s Asia)
IOC non-breeding range
to Sahel of wc to ec Africa through e China, Indonesian Arch. and Philippines
Identification
A small plover of about 40–44 g. Both sexes are pale: white below, grey-brown above, black legs and bill. The breeding male has a rufous crown and nape, a black horizontal bar on the forehead, black ear coverts and an incomplete dark breast band on each side that does not meet; the female is paler without the black. The sexes converge as the season goes on. Formerly placed in Charadrius, now in Anarhynchus.
Habitat
The shores of saline lakes, lagoons and coasts: sand beaches, dunes, salt marsh, semi-arid desert and even tundra; lays in a scrape on bare sand or gravel and runs and pecks on the tideline.
Distribution
Widespread on the coasts and inland waters of the southern Palearctic, Africa and Asia; breeds on China's coasts and inland salt lakes and is one of the commonest small plovers of the east coast; breeds and winters on Japan's coasts; a winter visitor and passage migrant in Singapore.
Season and behaviour
Seen all year in eastern China and Japan, breeding from April to July; in Singapore from September to April. Roosts with other small waders at high tide.
Photography tips
These are the FilmAnalysis editors' notes, not content from the sources.
Lie on the beach and let it run to you, from low down with the surf line as background, 1/2000 s to freeze the run; the breeding male's rufous crown and black forehead bar want front light. Eggs and chicks on the beach are superbly camouflaged: never walk a breeding beach and keep dogs off it.
Field ethics: keep a distance at which the bird does not change its behaviour; never approach or publish nest sites; no baiting, playback or flash; never clear vegetation around a nest; follow reserve rules and stay on paths.
Photographic styles
Small dots on a beach; pale coastal tones.
Similar species
Little ringed plover (complete black breast band, yellow eye-ring, flesh-coloured legs); Siberian sand plover (larger, complete chestnut breast band when breeding); white-faced plover (South Asia, whiter face).
Related badge
None yet. No validated photo recognition exists for this species, so no badge is tied to it: a name in the encyclopedia is not evidence in a photograph.
The illustration is original FilmAnalysis artwork. The photograph is from Wikimedia Commons; its licence and author are under it.
