Plover

Plovers are members of a widely distributed group of wading birds of the subfamily Charadriinae. The term "plover" applies to all the members of the subfamily, though only about half of them include it in their name.

Species list in taxonomic sequence

The taxonomy of family Charadriidae is unsettled. At various times the plovers, dotterels, and lapwings of family Charadriidae have been distributed among several subfamilies, with Charadriinae including most of the species. The International Ornithological Congress and the Clements taxonomy do not assign species to subfamilies. The South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society includes all of the species in Charadriinae. The North American Classification Committee of the AOS and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World separate the four members of genus Pluvialis as subfamily Pluvialinae.
The IOC recognizes these 69 species of plovers, dotterels, and lapwings in family Charadriidae. They are distributed among 11 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.

Common name	Binomial name + authority	IOC sequence
Grey plover	Pluvialis squatarola	1
European golden plover	Pluvialis apricaria	2
Pacific golden plover	Pluvialis fulva	3
American golden plover	Pluvialis dominica	4
Tawny-throated dotterel	Oreopholus ruficollis	5
Rufous-chested dotterel	Zonibyx modestus Lichtenstein, MHC, 1823	6
Diademed sandpiper-plover	Phegornis mitchellii	7
Eurasian dotterel	Eudromias morinellus Linnaeus, 1758	8
Killdeer	Charadrius vociferus Linnaeus, 1758	9
Common ringed plover	Charadrius hiaticula Linnaeus, 1758	10
Semipalmated plover	Charadrius semipalmatus Bonaparte, 1825	11
Piping plover	Charadrius melodus Ord, 1824	12
Hooded dotterel	Charadrius cucullatus	13
Forbes's plover	Charadrius forbesi	14
Three-banded plover	Charadrius tricollaris Vieillot, 1818	15
Black-fronted dotterel	Charadrius melanops	16
Shore plover	Charadrius novaeseelandiae	17
Little ringed plover	Charadrius dubius Scopoli, 1786	18
Long-billed plover	Charadrius placidus Gray, JE & Gray, GR, 1863	19
Pied plover	Hoploxypterus cayanus	20
Northern lapwing	Vanellus vanellus	21
Long-toed lapwing	Vanellus crassirostris	22
Blacksmith lapwing	Vanellus armatus	23
Spur-winged lapwing	Vanellus spinosus	24
River lapwing	Vanellus duvaucelii	25
Yellow-wattled lapwing	Vanellus malabaricus	26
Black-headed lapwing	Vanellus tectus	27
White-crowned lapwing	Vanellus albiceps Gould, 1834	28
Senegal lapwing	Vanellus lugubris	29
Black-winged lapwing	Vanellus melanopterus	30
Crowned lapwing	Vanellus coronatus	31
African wattled lapwing	Vanellus senegallus	32
Spot-breasted lapwing	Vanellus melanocephalus	33
Brown-chested lapwing	Vanellus superciliosus	34
Grey-headed lapwing	Vanellus cinereus	35
Red-wattled lapwing	Vanellus indicus	36
Javan lapwing	Vanellus macropterus	37
Banded lapwing	Vanellus tricolor	38
Masked lapwing	Vanellus miles	39
Sociable lapwing	Vanellus gregarius	40
White-tailed lapwing	Vanellus leucurus	41
Southern lapwing	Vanellus chilensis	42
Andean lapwing	Vanellus resplendens	43
Red-kneed dotterel	Erythrogonys cinctus Gould, 1838	44
Inland dotterel	Peltohyas australis	45
Caspian plover	Anarhynchus asiaticus Pallas, 1773	46
Oriental plover	Anarhynchus veredus Gould, 1848	47
Tibetan sand plover	Anarhynchus atrifons	48
Siberian sand plover	Anarhynchus mongolus Pallas, 1776	49
Greater sand plover	Anarhynchus leschenaultii Lesson, RP, 1826	50
Double-banded plover	Anarhynchus bicinctus Sir [William Jardine, 7th Baronet\|Jardine] & Selby, 1827	51
Wrybill	Anarhynchus frontalis Quoy & Gaimard, 1832	52
New Zealand plover	Anarhynchus obscurus Gmelin, JF, 1789	53
Wilson's plover	Anarhynchus wilsonia Ord, 1814	54
Collared plover	Anarhynchus collaris Vieillot, 1818	55
Mountain plover	Anarhynchus montanus Townsend, JK, 1837	56
Puna plover	Anarhynchus alticola	57
Two-banded plover	Anarhynchus falklandicus Latham (ornithologist)\|Latham], 1790	58
Madagascar plover	Anarhynchus thoracicus	59
Kittlitz's plover	Anarhynchus pecuarius Temminck, 1823	60
St. Helena plover	Anarhynchus sanctaehelenae	61
Red-capped plover	Anarhynchus ruficapillus Temminck, 1821	62
Snowy plover	Anarhynchus nivosus	63
Chestnut-banded plover	Anarhynchus pallidus Strickland, 1853	64
Malaysian plover	Anarhynchus peronii Schlegel, 1865	65
White-fronted plover	Anarhynchus marginatus Vieillot, 1818	66
Javan plover	Anarhynchus javanicus Chasen, 1938	67
Kentish plover	Anarhynchus alexandrinus Linnaeus, 1758	68
White-faced plover	Anarhynchus dealbatus	69

Description

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.

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.