The three sand plovers (Siberian, Tibetan, and greater) are notoriously difficult birds to identify correctly. Genomic analyses revealed Siberian sand plover to be more closely related to greater sand plover than Tibetan sand plover, requiring the former ‘lesser sand plover’ to be split into two species. All three species are between a banded dotterel and a New Zealand dotterel in size, but all three are plain grey-brown above and white below in non-breeding plumage, compared to more mottled warm brown and often buff or reddish brown underparts of the New Zealand birds. Important characters to separate the three sand plovers include overall size, leg length, bill size and shape, and head shape. Siberian and Tibetan sand plovers are smaller than greater sand plovers, and have a more rounded head shape. The two smaller species are very difficult to separate in non-breeding plumage, although Siberian sand plover has the shortest bill.

Identification

Most Siberian sand plovers in New Zealand are birds in non-breeding plumage among non-breeding banded dotterels, where the visitors are the same size and structure as banded dotterels, but have more grey-and-white plumage tones compared to yellow-and-brown for banded dotterel. Non-breeding lesser sand plovers have essentially identical plumage to non-breeding greater sand plovers and Tibetan sand plovers, being grey-brown above and white below with a dark partial breast band, and a mainly brown face with a slight pale eyebrow stripe. The underwing is mainly white, and the upperwing has a slight white wingbar. Siberian sand plover in breeding plumage has a bright chestnut breast band separated from the white throat by a thin black line. Most have a small area of white on the forehead. The bill is short and dark, and the legs long and greenish brown.

Voice: a chirrup.

Similar species: banded dotterel is similar in size but adults have a thin black band on the lower neck and a chestnut band across the upper breast, these being separated by a band of white. Juvenile banded dotterels are buff coloured cf. greyer sand plovers. New Zealand dotterel is larger and has orange-brown suffused underparts (when breeding) and browner upperparts. Greater sand plover in breeding plumage is larger but similarly coloured to lesser, but lacks the thin black line separating the chestnut breast band from the white throat. Tibetan sand plover in breeding plumage have paler orange on the breast without the thin black upper edge, and lack the white patches on the forehead.

In non-breeding plumage identification is difficult. Greater sand plover has longer legs and the longest, heaviest bill. Compared to Tibetan sand plover, Siberian sand plover has a shorter, chunkier bill, and is slightly larger and bulkier, with longer wings and shorter legs. Detailed information on the complexities of separating sand plovers is given by Hirschfeld et al. (2000), Garner et al. (2003), Bakewell (2022), and Schweizer et al. (2023).

Distribution and habitat

The race stegmanni breeds in Chukotka, Kamchatka and the Commander Islands, while mongolus breeds inland in eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East.

In the breeding season, Siberian sand plovers occur on coastal sand dunes (Commander Islands) and high mountain areas above the tree line. In the non-breeding season they are strictly coastal.

Population

The total population of stegmanni is c.13,000 birds, and of mongolus c.25,500.

New Zealand records

One or two birds occur in New Zealand most years. Records have been distributed from the Far North to Southland, and one on Chatham Island (December 1987). Most records are from Kaipara and Manukau Harbours.

Threats and conservation   

About 50% of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway population stages in the Yellow Sea on northward migration – an area under severe threat from reclamation and pollution.

Breeding

The nest is a shallow scrape in the ground, and usually 3 eggs are laid.

Behaviour and ecology

Siberian sand plovers generally feed in areas of softer mud than greater sand plovers. In New Zealand, they mainly associate with banded dotterels.

Food

Siberian sand plovers feed on a variety of marine invertebrates during the non-breeding season. In Malaysia they favour polychaete worms and the siphons of bivalves; no New Zealand data.

Weblinks

BirdLife factsheet

Wikipedia

http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=879

References

Bakewell, D.N. 2022. Identification of Siberian Charadrius [mongolus] mongolus and Tibetan C. [m.] atrifrons sand plovers. BirdingASIA 38: 23–35.

Barter, M. 2002. Shorebirds of the Yellow Sea: importance, threats and conservation status. Wetlands International Global Series 9.

del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. (eds) 1996. Handbook of birds of the world. Vol. 3, hoatzin to auks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Garner, M.; Lewington, I.; Slack, R. 2003. Mongolian and lesser sand plovers: an overview. Birding World 16: 377-385.

Heather, B.D.; Robertson, H.A. 2005. The field guide to the birds of New Zealand. 2nd edition. Penguin, Rosedale, Auckland.

Hirschfeld, E.; Rolselaar, C.S.; Shirihai, H. 2000. Identification, taxonomy and distribution of greater and lesser sand plovers. British Birds 93: 162-189.

Mackinnon, J., Verkuil, Y.I., Murray, N. 2012. IUCN situation analysis on East and Southeast Asian intertidal habitats, with particular reference to the Yellow Sea (including the Bohai Sea). Occasional Paper of the IUCN Species Survival Commission No. 47. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. 70 p.

Marchant, S.; Higgins, P.J. (eds) 1993. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic birds. Vol. 2, raptors to lapwings. Oxford University Press, Melbourne.

Mauersberger, G. 1975. The first record of the Mongolian plover, Charadrius mongolus Pallas, for Mongolia. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 95: 131-133.

Parrish, G.R. 2000. Which subspecies of Mongolian dotterel visit New Zealand? Notornis 47: 125-126.

Schweizer, M.; Bakewell, D.N.; Liu, Y. 2023. Taxonomy, phylogenetic history and identification of the sand plover complex. Dutch Birding 45: 326–335.

Swennen,C.; Marteijn, E. 1995. Wader feeding ecology studies in the Malay Peninsula. Pp. 13-32 in Parish, D.; Wells, D. (eds). INTERWADER annual report 1984. INTERWADER, Kuala Lumpur.

Wei, C.; Schweizer.; M.; Tomkovich, P.S.; Arkhipov, V.Y.; Romanov, M.; Martinez, J.; Lin, X.; Halimubieke, N.; Que, P.; Mu, T.; Huang, Q.; Zhang, Z.; Székely, T.; Liu, Y. 2022. Genome-wide data reveal paraphyly in the sand plover complex (Charadrius mongolus/leschenaultii). Ornithology 139 (10 pp): https://doi.org/10.1093/ornithology/ukab085

Recommended citation

Melville, D.S. & Miskelly, C.M. 2024. Siberian sand plover. In Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online. www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz