Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius Scientific name definitions

14–17 cm; 26–53 g; wingspan 42–48 cm. Eyering bright yellow. Smaller and less bulky than C. hiaticula, C. semipalmatus and C. placidus; also differs in having narrow white line behind black frontal bar, and in general shape of head pattern; in flight, lack of obvious wingbar is distinctive. Female has brown tinge to black parts and slightly narrower eyering. Non-breeding plumage of nominate race hardly differs from breeding plumage. Juvenile resembles non-breeding adult but olive-brown upperparts have buff fringes. Races differ in size and bill coloration; in <em>curonicus</em> , non-breeding adult has reduced brownish breastband, and black on head brownish; <em>jerdoni</em> , like nominate, lacks markedly distinct non-breeding plumage.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Mainly lowlands, up to 800 m, but to 2750 m in Nepalese Himalayas (1 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ); rarely coastal, except on migration. On bare or sparsely vegetated flats of sand, shingle or silt; avoids rough terrain and tall or dense vegetation. Often in vicinity of standing or slow-flowing fresh water; sometimes saline inland pools and flats, or brackish lagoons and estuaries. Also found in artificial, often only temporarily suitable, habitats, such as gravel pits, sewage works and industrial wastelands. In Britain nests mainly at gravel pits and similar sites, but sometimes on shingle banks of fast-flowing shallow rivers as, e.g., in S Wales (2 Lloyd, J. and Friese, J. (2013). Little Ringed Plovers in southwest Wales. British Birds. 106(1): 30–35. Close ). Habitat often unstable due to fast changing water level, growth of vegetation, etc.

Race curonicus migratory, but possibly resident in S breeding areas; W European population migrates across Sahara to tropics , reaching as far S as Zambia (3 Dowsett, R.J., Aspinwall, D.R. and Leonard, P.M. (1999). Further additions to the avifauna of Zambia. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. 119(2): 94–103. Close ) and Zimbabwe (4 Carbone, F. (2003). Little Ringed Plover in Hwange National Park: a first for southern Africa. Honeyguide. 49(1): 76–77. Close ); of six individuals fitted with geolocators in their breeding areas in Sweden, one wintered in C India and five in Africa, from C Nigeria and S Sudan to S Libya and N Egypt (5 Hedenström, A., Klaassen, R.H.G. and Åkesson, S. (2013). Migration of the Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius breeding in South Sweden tracked by geolocators. Bird Study. 60: 466–474. Close ), and small numbers winter elsewhere in S Mediterranean, occasionally in S Europe. Leaves breeding areas Jun to early Jul, and migrates late Jul to early Sept, reaching tropical Africa late Aug to Sept; returns from late Feb, reaching NW Europe from mid Mar, peaking Apr to early May, and a month later in NE; along R Yenisey, return migration peaks late May; evidence from UK suggests spring migration has moved forward by c. 1 week in recent decades, in response to global warming, but overall period on breeding grounds has remained same (6 Cotton, P.A. (2003). Avian migration phenology and global climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 100(21): 12219–12222. Close ), while earlier arrival has been even more marked in S Germany (7 Bairlein, F. and Heiser, F. (2014). Langfristige Veränderungen in der Frühjahrsankunft von Zugvögeln im Lech-Donau-Winkel, Bayern [Long-term changes in first arrival dates of migratory bird species in the Lech-Donau region, Bavaria]. Orn. Anz.. 53(1–2): 1–21. (In German with English summary.). Close ). Siberian and other Asian populations migrate to SE Asia and India, where they mix with resident jerdoni, although only curonicus definitely recorded in Malay Peninsula, with extreme dates of 21 Jul and 9 Apr (once end of May) (8 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ); cross Japan only on spring migration. Race curonicus recently recorded regularly in small numbers in Australia, and is also recorded, albeit rarely in New Guinea (9 Pratt, T. K., and B. M. Beehler (2015) Birds of New Guinea. Second edition. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ). Vagrant to Iceland (Apr) (10 van den Berg, A. B., and M. Haas, (2014). WP reports. Dutch Birding 36(3):195–208. Close ), Azores, Caribbean (on Martinique, also Apr) and Alaska (May and Jun) (11 Howell, S. N. G., I. Lewington, and W. Russell (2014). Rare Birds of North America. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ). Often migrates singly or in small flocks often of not more than ten birds. Nominate race resident and locally nomadic in New Guinea; jerdoni resident, but moves locally in response to water conditions.

Mainly insects, including beetles, flies, ants, mayfly and dragonfly larvae and crickets; spiders, shrimps and other invertebrates, e.g. tadpoles of common frog (Rana temporaria) (12 Gamble, D. (1994). Little Ringed Plover eating tadpole. British Birds. 87(10): 477. Close ). Sometimes uses foot-trembling. Feeds on dry or moist surface, and occasionally in shallow water. Not especially gregarious, unlike most other smaller Charadrius.

Most-frequently heard call, usually given in flight, a slightly burry, piping, over-slurred “preeeuw” (c. 0·3 seconds long). On breeding grounds, in display flight a long series of rolling burry whistles often with a distinctly raspy ending, “rrreeuah...rrreeuah...rrreeuah...”, and a faster piping “pi-pi-pi-pi-pi-pi-pi...”. Distress call a soft “pip..pip..pip…”, and in alarm a strident “peek!”. Calls of race jerdoni reported to differ from those of curonicus, but more information and comparative details required (1 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ).

Lays Apr–Jun in Europe , Mar–May in N Africa; race jerdoni breeds mainly Mar–May in India, but Jun–Jul in Sri Lanka (1 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ); nominate race breeds Feb–May (Philippines) (13 Kennedy, R. S., P. C. Gonzales, E. C. Dickinson, H. C. Miranda, and T. H. Fisher (2000). A Guide to the Birds of the Philippines. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ). Monogamous for at least one brood, occasionally for several years; sometimes third bird joins during breeding, but relation of “helpers” unknown. Solitary or in loose neighbourhood groups, 7–200 m apart; densities along R Yenisey 0·4–2 birds/km of shoreline. Low degree of natal philopatry, but high site fidelity, usually breeding within few km of previous year’s site. Territorial and highly aggressive, usually feeding outside territory; frequently breeds in vicinity of aggressive or demonstrative species, resulting in less egg loss due to predators; associations at least sometimes deliberately sought. Single- or double-brooded; usually one brood in N of range, more frequently two in S (14 Harrison, C. J. O., and P. Castell (2002). Bird Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East. Second revised edition. HarperCollins, London, UK. Close ). Nest a shallow scrape, unlined or lined with some vegetation and stones, on bare ground or among low vegetation, in vicinity of water, occasionally on level roofs (15 Weber, T. (2002). Brut des Flussregenpfeifers Charadrius dubius auf einem bekiesten Flachdach [Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius nesting on a flat roof]. Orn. Beob.. 99: 224–226. Close ); often on small island; prefers more vegetated areas than C. alexandrinus in places where they breed syntopically (16 Fojt, E., P. Triplet, J.-C. Robert, and R. A. Stillman (2000). Comparison of the breeding habitats of Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius and Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus on a shingle bed. Bird Study 47(1):8–12. Close ). Has been recorded using scrapes originally excavated by Vanellus vanellus (17 Kubelka, V., Sládeček, M. and Šálek, M. (2014). Inter-specific nest scrape reuse in waders: Little Ringed Plovers taking over the nest scrapes of Northern Lapwings. Bird Study. 61(2): 282–286. Close ). Usually four eggs, sometimes three, exceptionally five (14 Harrison, C. J. O., and P. Castell (2002). Bird Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East. Second revised edition. HarperCollins, London, UK. Close ), laid at intervals of c. 36 hours, either stone-coloured, buff, pale brown or blue-grey blotched darker brown, purple or black, mean size 29·8 mm × 22·1 mm (14 Harrison, C. J. O., and P. Castell (2002). Bird Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East. Second revised edition. HarperCollins, London, UK. Close ); up to three replacement clutches laid; incubation 22–28 days, by both adults, beginning with last or penultimate egg; chick mottled cinnamon-orange, grey and dusky, with black band above whitish forehead, and underparts white with dark patches on sides of breast; chicks leave territory, tended by both parents , but female leaves family party before male in order to lay new clutch or to migrate; fledging 24–29 days, occasionally longer; young independent 8–25 days thereafter. Hatching success 65–86%; fledging success 12–64% (18 Middleton, P. (2003). Population ecology, conservation and management of Little Ringed Plovers in South Yorkshire. British Birds. 96(7): 344–346. Close ). Nest predators include corvids (19 Coles, R.K. (2003). Nest protection of Little Ringed Plovers. British Birds. 96(7): 346. Close ). In Czech Republic, nest predation was higher in fishponds and extremely low in fields (20 Cepáková, E., Šálek, M., Cepák, J. and Albrecht, T. (2007). Breeding of Little Ringed Plovers Charadrius dubius in farmland: do nests in fields suffer from predation? Bird Study. 54(3): 284–288 Close ). Usually breeds for first time in second year. Annual mortality 35–55%, highest in first-year birds (53%). Oldest ringed bird 11 years.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Race curonicus in Europe and NW Africa numbers 100,000–1,000,000 birds, of which 17,000–28,000 breeding pairs in W & C Europe (1986), 14,000–30,000 pairs in Belarus (1990), 50,000–500,000 pairs in Russia and 6000–12,000 pairs in Ukraine (1988); more recently (2004), entire European population thought to number between 110,000 and 240,000 pairs. Apparently only an irregular breeder S to Egypt and Libya (21 Hering, J. and Fuchs, E. (2012). First breeding record of Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius in Libya. 19(1): 59–60. Close ), although species first proven to breed in Arabia in 1960s and has since been found along much of Persian Gulf coast, as well at sites in the interior, with a total population of at least 500 pairs (22 Jennings, M. C. (2004). Breeding birds in central Arabia, 1978–2003. Sandgrouse 26(1):35–47. Close , 23 Jennings, M. C. (2010). Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Arabia. Fauna of Arabia 25. King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Saudi Wildlife Commission and Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Frankfurt, Germany. Close , 24 Kavanagh, B. (2014). First breeding record of Little Ringed Plover in Bahrain. Phoenix. 30: 4. Close ). Unknown numbers in rest of extensive range; races jerdoni and dubius number 25,000–100,000 birds each; nominate race is rare (possibly even threatened) in Melanesia, where confined to New Ireland and New Britain (25 Dutson, G. (2011). Birds of Melanesia: The Bismarcks, Solomons, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Probably marked decrease from late 19th century in Europe, caused by habitat loss due to flood regulation; increasing numbers from 1930s in NW Europe, especially since late 1960s, linked to development of suitable man-made habitats like gravel and sand pits. Formerly common breeder on Mediterranean coast and along R Jordan, but pollution, especially from oil and tar, has had detrimental effects. In Russia, drainage and cultivation of riverine floodplains has created suitable new habitat; however, many such suitable sites are only temporary, because they will become overgrown or will be planted. Many breeding sites disturbed by recreational activities. Has recently expanded range N in Finland. First bred in Britain in 1938 and has since spread: 608 pairs in 1984, increasing to at least 1200 pairs by 2007 (26 Musgrove, A., N. Aebischer, M. Eaton, R. Hearn, S. Newson, D. Noble, M. Parsons, K. Risely, and D. Stroud (2013). Population estimates of birds in Great Britain and the United Kingdom. British Birds 106(2):64–100. Close ) and shows strong dependence on non-natural habitats (18 Middleton, P. (2003). Population ecology, conservation and management of Little Ringed Plovers in South Yorkshire. British Birds. 96(7): 344–346. Close ); however, in S Wales, at W edge of breeding range, unusually high densities nest on shingle banks along R Tywi and some of its main tributaries in Carmarthenshire, where population c. 65–75 pairs (2 Lloyd, J. and Friese, J. (2013). Little Ringed Plovers in southwest Wales. British Birds. 106(1): 30–35. Close ).