Gray Plover : its scientific name Charadrius squatarola, is the only species with which it can be confused is the Common Golden Plover, but the Gray Plover can always be differentiated by a black mark under the wing and by white flashes on the rump and wing strip.
Summary
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- 1 Features
- 2 Playback
- 3 Food
- 4 Habitat
- 5 Source
features
Very similar to the Golden Plover, it has very similar plumage, but the golden color of the back, so characteristic, is missing. The black color of the underparts is not so clearly edged with white ; however, subspecies have not been recognized, and the very slight variations observed are apparently clinal in origin. When observed in flight, a black spot stands out under the wings next to the body. Attitudes in the field are the same. It frequents wet meadows, cultivated fields, mudflats and hardened silts. In the coastal areas of the Cantabrian Sea , where both species are common in winter, They preferably occupy stubble lands where corn has been cultivated and later those prepared for the sowing of early potatoes.
In them, it is difficult to distinguish them at first glance, due to their immobility, even when the observer approaches a short distance. For this reason they are frequent targets of hunters, who in those regions call them “ground chickens.” Although they form very numerous groups, solitary individuals or in pairs are also seen.
Their flight is fast and characteristic, showing alternately the upper and lower parts, and when they walk on the ground they do so with almost spasmodic movements, going from absolute immobility to short runs. These two species of plovers, Gray and Gold , have very similar voices that are characteristic and unmistakable, since their pitiful whistles are always in Iberia in tune with the winter landscape.
Reproduction
Breeds in the Siberian tundra ; nests in peaty depressions, lined with moss and lichen; It lays, from June to July , 4 okra to greenish eggs, sometimes with a pinkish tinge, marked with reddish-brown spots; incubation, 23 days, by both sexes; chickens, fed by both parents, fly after about 4 weeks.
The Gray Plover breeds in the circumpolar areas of the North , lacking in the European ones, and is a formidable migrator that reaches practically all continents. From the European shores, their winter quarters reach South Africa .
Feeding
The plovers’ diet is made up of earthworms , worms , mollusks , small crabs , and other crustaceans in winter ; worms, slugs, insects and spiders in summer , abundant plant matter, seeds and small plants .
Habitat
Seas, coasts and estuaries.
