Kentish Plover
Encyclopedia
The Kentish Plover, Charadrius alexandrinus, is a small wader
in the plover
bird
family. Despite its name, this species no longer breeds in Kent
, or even Great Britain
. It breeds in a wide range, from southern Europe
to Japan
and in Ecuador
, Peru
, Chile
, the southern United States
and the Caribbean
.
The North American Committee of the American Ornithologists' Union
and the IOC World Bird List have voted on or before July 2011 to split the American forms into a new species Snowy Plover, however, no other committee has voted to change taxonomy yet. In that light, the American forms can now be found under a separate species listing Snowy Plover
,however all forms can still be found here until further actions are taken.
or Semipalmated Plover
. Its breast band is never complete, and usually just appears as dark lateral patches on the sides of the breast. The Kentish Plover's upperparts are greyish brown and the underparts white in all plumages. The breast markings are black in summer adults, otherwise brown. Breeding males of some races have a black forehead bar and a black mask through the eye. The legs are black. In flight, the flight feathers are blackish with a strong white wing bar. The flight call is a sharp bip.
This species breeds on sandy coast
s and brackish inland lakes, and is uncommon on fresh water. It nests in a ground scrape and lays three to five eggs
.
The breeding birds in warmer countries are largely sedentary, but northern and inland populations are migratory
, wintering south to the tropics
. Food is insect
s and other invertebrate
s, which are obtained by a run-and-pause technique, rather than the steady probing of some other wader groups.
This bird has six geographical races. The most distinctive are the two that breed in the Americas
, collectively called the Snowy Plover. They are shorter-legged, paler and greyer above than the Old World
subspecies, and breeding males lack a rufous cap. The eyemask is also poorly developed or absent. Genetic research published in 2009 strongly suggests that the Snowy Plover is a separate species.
The India
n and Sri Lanka
n breeding form also lacks a rufous
cap, and has only a weak eyemask.
The Kentish Plover is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA
) applies.
The western snowy plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus syn. Charadrius nivosus) breeds from Texas and Oklahoma west to California
and up the coastline to Oregon
and Washington, with the coastal form's primary breeding concentration in central and southern California. The Pacific Coast population has been designated a Threatened species under the Endangered Species Act
.
In many parts of the world, it had become difficult for this species to breed on beaches because of disturbance from the activities of humans or their animals. The University of California, Santa Barbara
, is currently endeavoring to rehabilitate snowy plover populations by protecting beaches along the central California
coastline that runs along part of the university campus. UCSB has had some success in encouraging reproduction; the university also often trains students and other volunteers to watch over protected beaches during the daytime to ensure no one disturbs nesting grounds.
Wader
Waders, called shorebirds in North America , are members of the order Charadriiformes, excluding the more marine web-footed seabird groups. The latter are the skuas , gulls , terns , skimmers , and auks...
in the plover
Plover
Plovers are a widely distributed group of wading birds belonging to the subfamily Charadriinae. There are about 40 species in the subfamily, most of them called "plover" or "dotterel". The closely related lapwing subfamily, Vanellinae, comprises another 20-odd species.Plovers are found throughout...
bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
family. Despite its name, this species no longer breeds in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, or even Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. It breeds in a wide range, from southern Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and in Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, the southern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
.
The North American Committee of the American Ornithologists' Union
American Ornithologists' Union
The American Ornithologists' Union is an ornithological organization in the USA. Unlike the National Audubon Society, its members are primarily professional ornithologists rather than amateur birders...
and the IOC World Bird List have voted on or before July 2011 to split the American forms into a new species Snowy Plover, however, no other committee has voted to change taxonomy yet. In that light, the American forms can now be found under a separate species listing Snowy Plover
Snowy Plover
The Snowy Plover is a small wader in the plover bird family. It breeds in Ecuador, Peru, Chile, the southern and western USA and the Caribbean...
,however all forms can still be found here until further actions are taken.
Characteristics
The Kentish Plover is 15–17 cm long. It is smaller, paler, longer-legged and thinner-billed than Ringed PloverRinged Plover
The Common Ringed Plover or Ringed Plover is a small plover.Adults are 17-19.5 cm in length with a 35–41 cm wingspan. They have a grey-brown back and wings, a white belly, and a white breast with one black neckband. They have a brown cap, a white forehead, a black mask around the eyes...
or Semipalmated Plover
Semipalmated Plover
The Semipalmated Plover is a small plover.This species weighs and measures in length and across the wings. Adults have a grey-brown back and wings, a white belly, and a white breast with one black neckband...
. Its breast band is never complete, and usually just appears as dark lateral patches on the sides of the breast. The Kentish Plover's upperparts are greyish brown and the underparts white in all plumages. The breast markings are black in summer adults, otherwise brown. Breeding males of some races have a black forehead bar and a black mask through the eye. The legs are black. In flight, the flight feathers are blackish with a strong white wing bar. The flight call is a sharp bip.
Coast
A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...
s and brackish inland lakes, and is uncommon on fresh water. It nests in a ground scrape and lays three to five eggs
Bird egg
Bird eggs are laid by females and incubated for a time that varies according to the species; a single young hatches from each egg. Average clutch sizes range from one to about 17...
.
The breeding birds in warmer countries are largely sedentary, but northern and inland populations are migratory
Bird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...
, wintering south to the tropics
Tropics
The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
. Food is insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s and other invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s, which are obtained by a run-and-pause technique, rather than the steady probing of some other wader groups.
This bird has six geographical races. The most distinctive are the two that breed in the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
, collectively called the Snowy Plover. They are shorter-legged, paler and greyer above than the Old World
Old World
The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....
subspecies, and breeding males lack a rufous cap. The eyemask is also poorly developed or absent. Genetic research published in 2009 strongly suggests that the Snowy Plover is a separate species.
The India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
n breeding form also lacks a rufous
Rufous
Rufous is a colour that may be described as reddish-brown or brownish-red, as of rust or oxidised iron.The first recorded use of rufous as a colour name in English was in the year 1782....
cap, and has only a weak eyemask.
The Kentish Plover is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA
AEWA
The Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds is the largest of its kind developed so far under the Bonn Convention. It was concluded on 16 June 1995 at The Hague, the Netherlands and entered into force on 1 November 1999 after the required number of at least fourteen...
) applies.
The western snowy plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus syn. Charadrius nivosus) breeds from Texas and Oklahoma west to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and up the coastline to Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
and Washington, with the coastal form's primary breeding concentration in central and southern California. The Pacific Coast population has been designated a Threatened species under the Endangered Species Act
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...
.
In many parts of the world, it had become difficult for this species to breed on beaches because of disturbance from the activities of humans or their animals. The University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
, is currently endeavoring to rehabilitate snowy plover populations by protecting beaches along the central California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
coastline that runs along part of the university campus. UCSB has had some success in encouraging reproduction; the university also often trains students and other volunteers to watch over protected beaches during the daytime to ensure no one disturbs nesting grounds.