Common Ringed Plover

The common ringed plover is a small plover, 17–19.5cm long with a wingspan of 35–41cm. It has a grey-brown back and wings, a white belly, a white breast crossed by one black neckband, a brown cap, a white forehead, a black mask round the eyes and a short orange-and-black bill. The legs are orange. It differs from the little ringed plover in leg colour, head pattern and the lack of an obvious yellow eye-ring. Juveniles are duller, with an often incomplete breast band, a dark bill and dull yellowish-grey legs (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds on open beaches and flats and in cold, sparsely vegetated uplands across northern Eurasia, Greenland and Arctic north-east Canada, nesting on the ground in open places with little plant cover. Pairs are seasonally monogamous, sometimes staying together into the next year, and nest solitarily and territorially. It is migratory and winters on coasts south to Africa. Three subspecies are recognised, one of them poorly defined. SoIB 2023 lists it as a winter migrant in India but gives no trend or priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).