Eastern Sand Plover

About the Eastern Sand Plover

The oriental plover (Anarhynchus veredus), also known as the oriental dotterel, is a medium-sized plover closely related to the Caspian plover. It breeds in parts of Mongolia and China, migrating southwards each year to spend its non-breeding season in Indonesia, New Guinea and northern Australia.

Adult male in breeding plumage: white face, throat and fore-crown; grey-brown hind-crown, hind-neck and back; belly white, demarcated with narrow black band and then broad chestnut breast band merging into white throat. Female, juvenile and non-breeding male: generally grey-brown upperparts and white belly; pale face with white streak above eye. Measurements: length 21–25 cm; wingspan 46–53 cm; weight 95 g.

Among the red-breasted Charadrius plovers, this bird is relatively large, long-legged and long-winged. Breeds in Mongolia, eastern Russia and Manchuria; migrates through eastern China and South-East Asia to Indonesia and northern Australia. Rare in New Guinea; straggler to New Zealand and Europe four times (Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands). The oriental plover breeds in dry steppes, deserts, arid grasslands and saltpans. Its... Wikipedia →