Kentish Plover

The Kentish plover is a small wader weighing 40–44g. Both sexes are pale with a white underside, a grey-brown back, dark legs and a black bill. In the breeding season the male also has a black bar across the forehead, dark incomplete breast bands on each side, black ear coverts and a rufous nape and crown, which vary between populations; females are paler and lack the dark marks. The differences fade as the breeding season goes on. It was formerly placed in the genus Charadrius (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds on the shores of saline lakes, lagoons and coasts, and in dunes, marshes and semi-arid desert, over a very wide range. Some populations migrate while others, such as island birds, stay put. It nests on the ground in a small scrape lined with shells, pebbles and plant material, usually in low, open, damp places away from thick vegetation, and feeds on arthropods and other invertebrates with a run-and-stop technique. SoIB 2023 lists it as resident and a winter migrant in India, estimates a long-term decline of about 71%, and rates it a High conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).