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A photo of a Greater Sand Plover (Charadrius leschenaultii), male
Greater Sand Plover, Male

Greater Sand Plover

Charadrius leschenaultii

The greater sand plover (Charadrius leschenaultii) is a small wader in the plover family of birds. The spelling is commonly given as "greater sandplover" or "greater sand-plover", but the official British Ornithologists' Union spelling is "Greater Sand Plover". This chunky plover is long-legged and thick-billed. Breeding males have grey backs and white underparts. The breast, forehead and nape are chestnut, and there is a black eye mask. The female is duller, and winter and juvenile birds lack the chestnut, apart from a hint of rufous on the head. Legs are greenish and the bill black. In all plumages, it is very similar to lesser sand plover, Charadrius mongolus. Separating the species may be straightforward in mixed wintering flocks on an Indian beach, where the difference in size and structure is obvious; it is another thing altogether to identify a lone vagrant to western Europe, where both species are very rare. The problem is compounded in that the Middle Eastern race of the greater sand plover is the most similar to the lesser species.
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Greater Sand Plovers on Birda

Photos

Sightings

A map showing the sighting location
🦅
Werner Coetzee
Saturday 23 Sep 2023 - 3:27pm
South Africa
A photo of a Greater Sand Plover photographed in The Cull Ireland
Profile picture for Daniel Newton
Daniel Newton
Sunday 03 Sep 2023 - 12:35pm
Ireland
A map showing the sighting location
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Aart Verrips
Thursday 10 Aug 2023 - 3:38pm
South Africa
A map showing the sighting location
🦢
Hannah Rolland
Tuesday 01 Aug 2023 - 3:03am
Australia
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