Little Ringed Plover

How to identify

Field marks

1. Very conspicuous golden-yellow eye-ring
2. Summer plumage has a black eyestripe across the face and a black ring around the lower neck
3. Short, entirely black bill with a slight yellow tinge at the base of the lower mandible
4. Wing stripes almost invisible

Male, female and young

In summer, the male's ear-coverts are entirely black, while the female's are partly brown; black areas turn brown in winter; juveniles resemble adults in winter plumage.

Voice

Often gives short, sharp “piu” or “pew” calls in flight.

Similar species

Common Ringed Plover

Slightly smaller than Common Ringed Plover, with a longer, more slender bill, a more slender tail and more agile movements.

Long-billed Plover

Bill shorter than Long-billed Plover's, with a more conspicuous golden ring around the eye.

Kentish Plover

May resemble Kentish Plover when the breast-band is indistinct in winter plumage; Little Ringed Plover usually retains a visible golden eye-ring in winter and has almost no wing-bar.

Where and when it's recorded

Little Ringed Plover has been recorded at 2,542 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 124 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Taipei – Tianliaoyang WetlandTaiwan (China)3,517 records
2. Huajiang IBA – Huajiang Wild Duck Nature Park (Huajiang to Zhongxing Bridge)Taiwan (China)2,748 records
3. Desembocadura del Guadalhorce – ÁreaSpain2,679 records

Countries and regions with the most records

ChinaSpainUnited KingdomIndiaThailandIsraelUnited Arab EmiratesGermany

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The little ringed plover (Thinornis dubius) is a small plover native to the Old World. 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.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions