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Little Ringed Plovers are very small coastal waders. When seen in Australia, they are usually, but not always, in eclipse plumage. During the non-breeding season they have an incomplete and mottled black chest ring (which gives them their name), and a mostly black head, except for the white frons and a white ring between head and black chest ring, from the throat to the nape of the neck. Their eye-rings are inconspicuous. The grey-brown cap has a white edge separating it from the rest of the black head. The upperparts (mantle, upperwings, tail) are slate-grey, the underparts (lower chest, belly, vent) are white. During the breeding season the chest ring becomes wider, darker and spans the width of the breast. The yellow eye-rings become more conspicuous. The bill is dark-grey to black; the legs and feet are pink.

Twitcher's tip

Compared to other small species of plovers, the Little Ringed Plover is the only one with orange legs and feet. In-flight, they are the only small plovers that do not have conspicuous thin white wing bars.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Little Ringed Plover is available HERE .

Little Ringed Plovers are a strongly migratory species that breeds in most of Europe, parts of north-western Africa, in Asia Minor, some locations on the coastline of the Middle East and eastward into western, central and south-western Asia and the Indian subcontinent. While the majority of the population of Little Ringed Plovers will spend the northern winters in Africa, southward of the Sahara desert, a small number will migrate to northern Australia.

In Australia they are occasionally found along the coastline, mostly of the northern part of the continent. The race most likely to migrate to Australia is "curonicus".

Outside the breeding season Little Ringed Plovers have a preference for beaches with sand dunes and marshes. They are also regularly found in sewage treatment plants.

Race "curonicus"

Race "dubius"