Charadrius leschenaultii - Greater Sand Plover
Feather characters. Barbules are from short until medium length (1.0-1.1 mm). Barbules are divided into pigmented nodes and partly pigmented (less than 50%) internodes. Vase-shaped nodes are equally distributed along the entire length of barbules (25-30 per mm). They are all about the same size, slightly decreasing towards distal end. Villi are absent and internodes are straight. Prongs are absent.
Field characters. Size 22-25 cm. Weight 91 g (78.0-103.0) (Dunning, 1993). Medium-sized plover, larger than Great Ringed Plover; often associates with other plovers. Male in summer plumage with black facial mask and rufous lower crown, nape and chest-band. Centre of crown and upperparts brown-grey; forehead black with white patch at bill base; throat, lower cheeks and underparts white. Rufous of western race in Middle East extends also to flanks and upperparts. In flight shows broad pale wingbar; legs extend beyond tail. Male Caspian Plover (Charadrius asiaticus, not included in BRIS) shares rufous chest-band, but has no black facial mask. Female much duller, resembling male outside breeding season; sometimes more male-like, but with less black in mask and narrower chest-band. In non-breeding rufous or black of both sexes reduced by greyish- or buffish-brown; facial mask less distinctive, chest-band reduced. Juvenile like non-breeding adult, but with pale fringes. Caspian Plover outside breeding season slimmer, with full, broader chest-band, narrower wingbar, and longer, thinner bill.
Voice. Call 'prrrirt', not unlike Turnstone (Arenaria interpres, not included in BRIS); alarm-call 'triep'.
Distribution. Sporadic breeder and common migrant of Middle East. Map: see MapIt.
Habitat. Breeds in deserts and semi-deserts, on dried-out flats with seasonal pools, preferably open or with sparse vegetation; nests on the ground. Coastal outside breeding season, on shores and intertidal mudflats.
Food. Insects, especially beetles, obtained in typical plover way, by pecking or probing.