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Ringed Plover

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Birds

                  iRinged Plover
   Ringed Plover (juvenile)
   Ringed Plover (juvenile)

                             Conservation status

   Least Concern (LC)
            Scientific classification

   Kingdom: Animalia
   Phylum:  Chordata
   Class:   Aves
   Order:   Charadriiformes
   Family:  Charadriidae
   Genus:   Charadrius
   Species: C. hiaticula

                                Binomial name

   Charadrius hiaticula
   (Linnaeus, 1758)

   The Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula is a small plover.

   Adults are 17-19.5 cm in length with a 35-41 cm wingspan. They have a
   grey-brown back and wings, a white belly, and a white breast with one
   black neckband. They have a brown cap, a white forehead, a black mask
   around the eyes and a short orange and black bill. The legs are orange
   and only the outer two toes are slightly webbed, unlike the slightly
   smaller but otherwise very similar Semipalmated Plover, which has all
   three toes slightly webbed, and also a marginally narrower breast band.
   Juvenile Ringed Plovers are duller than the adults in colour, with an
   often incomplete grey-brown breast band, a dark bill and dull
   yellowish-grey legs.
   Ringed Plover (adult), with a Redshank behind
   Enlarge
   Ringed Plover (adult), with a Redshank behind

   This species differs from the smaller Little Ringed Plover in leg
   colour, the head pattern, and the lack of an obvious yellow eye-ring.

   The Ringed Plover's breeding habitat is open ground on beaches or flats
   across northern Eurasia and in arctic northeast Canada. Some birds
   breed inland, and in western Europe they nest as far south as northern
   France. They nest on the ground in an open area with little or no plant
   growth.

   If a potential predator approaches the nest, the adult will walk away
   from the scrape, calling to attract the intruder and feigning a broken
   wing. Of course, once the intruder is far enough from the nest, the
   plover flies off.

   Ringed Plovers are migratory and winter in coastal areas south to
   Africa. Many birds in Great Britain and northern France are resident
   throughout the year.

   These birds forage for food on beaches, tidal flats and fields, usually
   by sight. They eat insects, crustaceans and worms.

   There are three weakly-defined subspecies, which vary slightly in size
   and mantle colour; they intergrade where their ranges meet:
     * Charadrius hiaticula hiaticula - breeds temperate western Europe
       north to central Scandinavia; resident or short-distance migrant to
       southwest Europe. Largest and palest subspecies.
     * Charadrius hiaticula psammodroma - breeds Iceland, Greenland,
       northeast Canada; wintering west Africa. Intermediate in size and
       colour.
     * Charadrius hiaticula tundrae - breeds arctic northern Scandinavia
       and Asia; wintering Africa and southwest Asia. Smallest and darkest
       subspecies.

   C.h. hiaticula and C.h. tundrae are among the species to which the
   Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds
   ( AEWA) applies.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringed_Plover"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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