Oriental Plover

Scientific Name: Charadrius veredus
Malay Name: Rapang Padang Asia Timur
Chinese Name: 东方鸻

Range:
Found from Siberia to Mongolia and northern China, wintering to Southeast Asia and Australia

Taxonomy:
Monotypic.

Size: 22-25 cm

Identification:
Non-breeding adult resembles Lesser and Greater Sand Plovers but larger and slimmer-looking with longer neck, legs and wings, more slender bill, upper breast buffish-brown, longer and more pronounced supercilium and yellowish-orange legs and feet. Male in breeding plumage has mostly whitish head and neck with distinctive rufous-chestnut breast-band and broad black lower border. Female in breeding plumage resembles non-breeding adult but with rufescent wash at upper breast.

Similar looking species: Lesser Sand Plover, Greater Sand Plover

Habitat: Mudflats, sandy shores and open grasslands.

Behaviour/Ecology: Associates with other feeding shorebirds, especially Lesser Sand Plover.

Local Status: Very rare migrant

Conservation Status: Least Concern (BirdLife International 2016)

Featured articles:

• Bird List Revision for May 2019 (Revisions)

Featured reports: Oct 2022

Past accepted records in our database:

Migrant bar chart (see more bar charts):

Oriental Plover at Seletar Dam. Photo Credit: Francis Yap

Oriental Plover at Bali. Photo Credit: Francis Yap

Oriental Plover at Seletar Dam. Photo Credit: Francis Yap