Charadriinae

Plovers ( , ) are a widely distributed group of wading birds belonging to the subfamily Charadriinae.

Description

There are about 66 species in the subfamily, most of them called "plover" or "dotterel". The closely related lapwing subfamily, Vanellinae, comprises about 20 species.

Plovers are found throughout the world, with the exception of the Sahara and the polar regions, and are characterised by relatively short bills. They hunt by sight, rather than by feel as longer-billed waders like snipes do. They feed mainly on insects, worms or other invertebrates, depending on the habitat, which are obtained by a run-and-pause technique, rather than the steady probing of some other wader groups. Plovers engage in false brooding, a type of distraction display. Examples include pretending to change position or to sit on an imaginary nest site.

Species list in taxonomic sequence

The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) recognizes these 45 species of plovers and dotterels. They are distributed among 10 genera, some of which have only one species.

This list is presented according to the IOC taxonomic sequence and can also be sorted alphabetically by common name and binomial.

In folklore

The European golden plover spends summers in Iceland, and in Icelandic folklore, the appearance of the first plover in the country means that spring has arrived. The Icelandic media always covers the first plover sighting.

A rare habit of a species that migrates every year to the Ozogoche lagoons, in southern Ecuador, occurs between September and October, when hundreds of plovers (called 'cuvivíes' in that area) swoop down and dive into the icy waters of the lagoons, where they die of hypothermia, a suicidal behavior for which no scientific explanation has been found so far.

References

External links

Plover videos, photographs & sounds
on the Internet Bird Collection

{{Taxonbar, from=Q139321

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