GREATER SAND PLOVER

Subspecies leschenaultii, March 2017

(*   684)              GREATER SAND PLOVER               Charadrius leschenaultii

SRI LANKA             684

Found along seashores, lagoons, mudflats. 22-25 cm. Fairly rare winter migrant to lowland coastal areas; more often in dry zone.

LESSER SAND PLOVER

Subspecies atrifrons, March 2017

(*   644)                  LESSER SAND PLOVER              Charadrius mongolus    

SRI LANKA                   96

Found along the shoreline of a variety of wetlands and wet grasslands. 19-21 cm. Common winter migrant to the lowlands, more common in a dry zone.

GREATER SAND PLOVER

Photographed on Chilli Beach, Queensland October 2015

684          GREATER SAND PLOVER          aradrius leschenaultii 

Australia          (526)

Also known as Large Sand Dotterell or Large Sand Plover. 20-25 cm, wingspan 53-60 cm. Found on wide, sandy or shelly beaches; sandpits, tidal mudflats, reefs, sand-cays, mangroves, salt marsh, dune wilderness, bare paddocks, seldom far inland. Range: breeds (in three races) from Turkey to s. Siberia; regular summer migrant to Aust., Tas., commonest in nw WA, where fpcks of thousands.

LESSER SAND PLOVER

Photographed at Kakadu Beach, Bribe Island, Queensland August 2015

644             LESSER SAND PLOVER           Charadrius mongolus

Australia         (487)

Also known as Mongolian Sand Plover, Mongolian Plover or Mongolian Dotterel. 19-21 cm. Found on tidal mudflats and sandblast; gently sloping sandy and shelly beaches; salt marsh, estuaries, atolls, reefs, mangroves, airfields. Occasionally on inland freshwater lakes, swamps, bore drains etc. Range: breeds in e. and ne Siberia; regular summer migrant (Aug.-May) to mostly coastal Aust., Tas., and NZ; scattered inland occurrences. Regular in low thousands in some areas, such as Gulf of Carpentaria and Moreton Bay (Q).