Common Ringed Plover ( Charadrius hiaticula, family: Charadriidae)

Birds & Birding in the Kruger National Park South Africa. In Roberts 6 this bird was called Ringed Plover

common ringed plover kruger national park birds The Common Ringed Plover (Latin name Charadrius hiaticula) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 245 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 396 also a picture of the Common Ringed Plover on page 384. The Common Ringed Plover belongs to the family of birds classified as Charadriidae.

In the previous edition of Roberts (ie 6th edition) the Common Ringed Plover was called the Ringed Plover

The map of the Kruger you see on this page shows the areas (coloured orange) where this bird has been identified. The basic information was provided by the Avian Demographic Unit based at UCT and I created the maps from that information ... the green dots show the locations of the various Kruger National Park Rest Camps

The Common Ringed Plover is neither Endemic or near Endemic to the Kruger National Park.

In terms of distribution of the Common Ringed Plover in the Kruger National Park you may not see it in all areas. Common Ringed Plover : see above distribution map.

Identification assistance for this avian species ...

One of the first indicators to take note of when trying to identify a bird is it relative size. For example how big is the bird compared to a well known familiar bird. The Common Ringed Plover is an extremely small bird about half the size of a house sparrow. The height of the Common Ringed Plover is about 19 cms and its weight is about 50 gms

The male and female Common Ringed Plover have the same plumage and colours

  • Head is brown.
  • Eye is brown.
  • Bill is black.
  • Throat is black.
  • Back is brown.
  • Legs are grey.

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The Common Ringed Plover feeds on the ground mainly

Invertebrates

Aquatic life forms

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The Common Ringed Plover takes on more than a single mate (it is bigamous).

The nesting habit of Common Ringed Plover is extra limital

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

The preferred habitats for Common Ringed Plover are: wetlands and riverine areas

You will normally see the Common Ringed Plover in flocks.

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Unokrekre

Zulu ... Unknown

Afrikaans ...Ringnekstrandkiewiet

German ... Sandregenpfeifer

Portuguese ... Borrelho-grande-de-coleira

French ... Pluvier grand-gravelot

Dutch ... Bontbekplevier

First bird in list | Previous bird viewed | Next KNP bird | Last bird in list

For in-depth birding information please refer to these authoritative avian references ...

Robert's 7th edition number ... 245

The main reference source for this data was "Roberts - Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition" . Other references were "Newmans Birds of the Kruger Park" by Keith Newman published circa 1980 . Names in foreign languages were obtained from the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town website , www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za