Grey Plover.
Photo: K Vang and W Dabrowka © Bird Explorers
Grey Plover.
Photo: K Vang and W Dabrowka © Bird Explorers
Distribution map of Pluvialis squatarola
Map © Birds Australia Birdata
Grey Plover
Scientific name: Pluvialis squatarola
Family: Charadriidae
Order: Charadriiformes
- Featured Bird Groups
- Shore birds and waders
What does it look like?
Description
The Grey Plover is a medium-sized, long-legged plover, with a large head and large dark eyes, and a heavy black bill. It is pale grey above with fine mottling, a whitish forehead and eyebrow and a strongly barred white tail. The underparts are whitish grey with diagnostic black wing-pits in flight. When breeding, the plumage is boldly marked with black and white. This species is also known as the Black-bellied Plover or the Grey Sandpiper.
Similar species
The Grey Plover may be confused with the Pacific Golden Plover, Pluvialis fulva, but is larger with a heavier bill. In flight, the Grey Plover has black wing-pits. It also has a bold white wing-bar and white rump.
Where does it live?
Distribution
The Grey Plover breeds around the Arctic regions and migrates to the southern hemisphere, being a regular summer migrant to Australia, mostly to the west and south coasts. It is generally sparse but not uncommon in some areas. It is occasionally found inland.
Habitat
The Grey Plover is almost entirely coastal, being found mainly on marine shores, inlets, estuaries and lagoons with large tidal mudflats or sandflats for feeding, sandy beaches for roosting, and also on rocky coasts.
Seasonal movements
Grey Plovers are found in Australia between August and April.
What does it do?
Feeding
Grey Plovers are mainly diurnal (day-active), feeding on molluscs, insects, crustaceans, polychaete worms, and occasionally vegetation and seeds. They feed with stop-start running, pecking and probing in mud, using their large eyes to locate prey.
Breeding
Grey Plovers breed in the Northern Hemisphere from late May to August. Eggs are laid in a shallow scrape, lined with stones and vegatation. Both parents share all incubation and feeding duties. The parents' black and white breeding plumage is good camouflage on the tundra, which is dark and boggy and may still have snow cover. They feed mainly on insects when breeding.
Living with us
Living with humans
The Grey Plover has been known to roost on an island artificially created by dredge-spill in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria. It is shy and tends to stay far out on the mudflats. Threats on passage (the migration route to Australia) include economic and social pressures such as wetland destruction and change, pollution and hunting.
References
Marchant, S. and Higgins, P.J. (eds). 1993. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Vol 1B (Ratites to Ducks), Oxford University Press, Sydney.
Pizzey, G. and Knight, F. 1997. Field Guide to the Birds of Australia. Angus and Robertson, Sydney.