#Charadriinae

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[2560/11080] Collared plover - Charadrius collaris

Note: Clements places this bird in the genus Anarhynchus.

Order: Charadriiformes Suborder: Charadrii Family: Charadriidae Subfamily: Charadriinae (plovers)

Photo credit: Carlos Rossello via Macaulay Library

[gasterofficial]

You like talking about birds, don't you? Umm... what bird do you think is cutest?

...OH. YES. HELLO, RALSEI.

I.

...

I... BELIEVE. THAT HONOR WOULD HAVE TO GO TO. JUVENILE SHOREBIRDS. AS A WHOLE.

JUVENILE PLOVERS, SUBFAMILY CHARADRIINAE. POSSESS PLUMAGE WHICH MIMICS MOSS-COVERED GROUND.

MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY RALLIDAE HAVE EXAGGERATEDLY LARGE FEET. TO ASSIST IN WALKING OVER UNSTABLE TERRAIN. THEY ARE INCREDIBLY DISPROPORTIONATE ON JUVENILES.

LOONS LIKE THIS COMMON LOON, GAVIA IMMER, TRANSPORT THEIR OFFSPRING ON THEIR BACKS. UNTIL THEY ARE OLD ENOUGH TO SWIM LONG DISTANCES ON THEIR OWN.

THEY ARE ALL SO UNIQUELY RIDICULOUS IN APPEARANCE. IT IS WONDERFUL.

...THANK YOU, FOR ASKING ME ABOUT THIS. I ENJOYED SPEAKING ABOUT THIS. VERY MUCH SO.

[animalids]

Snowy plover (Charadrius nivosus)

Photo by Jaymi Heimbuch

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Phegornis mitchellii

By Francesco Veronesi, CC BY-SA 2.0 

Etymology: Splendorous Bird

First Described By: Gray, 1846

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoromorpha, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostaylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Neoaves, Aequorlitornithes, Charadriiformes, Charadrii, Charadriida, Charadriidae, Charadriinae

Status: Extant, Near Threatened

Time and Place: Within the last 10,000 years, in the Holocene of the Quaternary 

The Diademed Plover can be found along the Pacific coast of South America 

Physical Description: The Diademed Plover is a beautiful and distinctive wading bird, though quite small for its group - never growing longer than 20 centimeters in length. It has a long, thin bill, like other plovers, and a very black head with a white ring around the top of the head - hence its name, Diademed, as it looks like it has a crown on its head. It has a red patch on the back of its neck, and the front of its neck is white; while its belly and rump are white with black stripes. The back of the Diademed Plover, meanwihle, is brown. It has long, thin, and yellow legs; while its wings are rather short, leading to an undulating flight style. All sexes look alike, while the juveniles look more grey and less distinctive.

Diet: The diet of the Diademed Plover is uncertain at this time.

Behavior: Though its diet may be murkey, the Diademed Plover does have some known feeding habits, such as feeding in hidden spots - especially eroded holes and creeks. They will probe the ground with their bill, and pick off food from aquatic plants. They usually forage alone, or in mated pairs, but no more than that. They call to each other while foraging, making “pic pic pic” sounds; they make quiet chattering when meeting up after being separated. They also make sharp whistling calls as alarms. 

By Opisska, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Diademed Plover breeds in the puna zone of the Andes, not nesting very closely together; They nest from October through January, with most nesting occurring in December. Two small eggs are laid in their nests, which are made of dried grass. The chicks are mainly dark brown and fluffy. These birds don’t migrate much, but they do go back and forth between altitudes depending on the season.

Ecosystem: The Diademed Plovers live in the Puna grassland ecoregion of South America, a habitat of high elevation grasslands in the Andes mountains near the Pacific ocean. The Diademed Plover mainly lives in mossy tundra and bogs, as well as in grasslands near lakes.

Other: The Diademed Plover is considered near threatened, given that it is poorly known and seems to have a small population size (probably around 10,000 individuals). They are easily overlooked and their high altitude makes recording their population difficult, but it also means they are probably at least somewhat secure in at least part of their range.

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources under the Cut 

Jobling, J. A. 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. Christopher Helm Publishing, A&C Black Publishers Ltd, London.

Wiersma, P. & Kirwan, G.M. (2019). Diademed Plover (Phegornis mitchellii). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

[kennak]

ごはん、といえば、この前２週間日本で居候させてもらった家庭では、どんな内容の食事でも必ず米の飯がついていて、なんとなく食事において米粒をたべないのは由々しきことである、漠然とながらそれは「悪」である、という雰囲気があった。

Twitter / charadriinae

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[2220/11080] Chestnut-banded plover - Charadrius pallidus

Note: Clements places this bird in the genus Anarhynchus.

Order: Charadriiformes Suborder: Charadrii Family: Charadriidae Subfamily: Charadriinae (plovers)

Photo credit: Yeray Seminario via Macaulay Library

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[2986/11080] Double-banded plover - Charadrius bicinctus

Note: Clements places this bird in the genus Anarhynchus.

Order: Charadriiformes Suborder: Charadrii Family: Charadriidae Subfamily: Charadriinae (plovers)

Photo credit: Michael Stubblefield via Macaulay Library

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[2633/11080] Common ringed plover - Charadrius hiaticula

Order: Charadriiformes Suborder: Charadrii Family: Charadriidae Subfamily: Charadriinae (plovers)

Photo credit: Herb Elliott via Macaulay Library

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[2106/11056] Caspian plover - Charadrius asiaticus

Note: Clements places this species in Anarhynchus.

Order: Charadriiformes Suborder: Charadrii Family: Charadriidae Subfamily: Charadriinae (plovers)

Photo credit: Jacob Drucker via Macaulay Library

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[179/10,977] American Golden Plover - Pluvialis dominica

Order: Charadriiformes Suborder: Charadrii Family: Charadriidae Subfamily: Charadriinae (plovers)

Photo credit: August Davidson-Onsgard via Macaulay Library

[dendroica]

Piping plovers and storm recovery: Can the shorebird help us save our beaches?

Hurricane Sandy passed through this area after my icy walk last year, and I revisited it a few weeks after the storm. My mother had evacuated her home on Atlantic Beach, then moved back to deal with a flooded basement and the worries of living close to the shore. I walked down to the beach, which had lost much of the finer sand. To the east, the houses were intact; the lawns still late-autumn green. To the west, workers were emptying homes by the pailful. They piled wet sand on the beach and hoisted rugs, furniture, Sheetrock, and keepsakes onto what was left of patios.

What had made the difference? To the east was a dune system, about 10 feet high, covered with beach grass and a few young pines: a barrier to the storm surge. To the west, the beach resembled a parking lot, graded and regraded over the years, an easy path for any storm with a decent amount of power.

Workers were moving sand and plugging it with beach grass in the area that had been protected from the storm. The winter shorebirds were back on the coast, preoccupied as ever, racing toward the ocean for a quick meal, chased back by the waves. Several Brant geese flew overhead. At the same time, up the beach, some coastal residents were doing what they’ve always done: grading the strand and carelessly encroaching on the dunes. Homeowners who paid for an ocean view were starting to groom their welcome mats for the next storm. As beach geologist Orrin Pilkey once said, “If you can see the ocean, the ocean can see you.”

Some coastal residents resent the restrictions imposed by the Endangered Species Act to protect threatened shorebirds. But others suspect that piping plovers can help us preserve our shorefront lifestyle—that the land we protect for them can serve as a barrier when the storms come through, protecting human property. It’s a pleasing notion. The truth, however, is more complicated than that.

(Read more at Slate Magazine)