Three-banded plover
{{short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| image = Three-banded plover (Charadrius tricollaris).jpg
| image_caption = Chobe National Park, Botswana
| taxon = Charadrius tricollaris
| authority = Vieillot, 1818
}}
The three-banded plover, or three-banded sandplover (Charadrius tricollaris), is a small wader. This plover is resident and generally sedentary in much of East Africa, southern Africa and Madagascar. It occurs mainly on inland rivers, pools, lakes and pans, frequenting their exposed shores. This species is often seen as single individuals, but it will form small flocks. It hunts by sight for insects, worms and other invertebrates. Three-banded plovers have a sharp whistled weeet-weet call. Its larger and darker-plumaged sister species, Forbes's plover, replaces it in West Africa and in the moist tropics. The two species have largely allopatric breeding ranges. Both species present a distinctively elongated profile, due to their proportionally long tail and wings.
Description
{{multiple image
| align = left
| direction = vertical
| caption_align = center
| width = 210
| image1 = Three-banded_Plover-4098_-_Flickr_-_Ragnhild_&_Neil_Crawford,_crop.jpg
| alt1 =
| caption1 = In flight, showing the white front and white side of the tail and rump. The long wings feature a thin white bar above, and a dark smudge over the primary coverts below.
| image2 = Three-banded Plover (Charadrius tricollaris) female on nest (11927139456).jpg
| alt2 =
| caption2 = Female incubating
| image3 = Eggs of Three-banded Plover (Charadrius tricollaris) right in the middle of the S59 Road (11926451373).jpg
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| caption3 = Nest with two eggs
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The adult three-banded plover is 18 cm in length. It has long wings and a very long tail, and therefore looks different from most other small plovers in flight, the exception being the closely related Forbes's plover.
The adult three-banded plover has medium brown upperparts, and the underparts are white except for the two black breast bands, separated by a white band, which give this species its common and scientific names. The head is strikingly patterned, with a black crown, white supercilia extending from the white forehead to meet on the back of the neck, and a grey face becoming brown on the neck. The orbital ring is orange-red, and the base of the otherwise black bill is rosy red in colour.
The Malagasy subspecies C. t. bifrontatus has a grey band between the bill and the white forehead, and the sides of the head are grey. A genetic study reported genetic differentiation between Madagascar and the mainland population.{{Cite journal |last1=Remedios |first1=Natalie Dos |last2=Küpper |first2=Clemens |last3=Székely |first3=Tamás |last4=Zefania |first4=Sama |last5=Burns |first5=Fiona |last6=Bolton |first6=Mark|last7=Lee|first7=Patricia L. M.|date=2020|title=Genetic structure among Charadrius plovers on the African mainland and islands of Madagascar and St Helena |journal=Ibis |language=en |volume=162 |issue=1 |pages=104–118 |doi=10.1111/ibi.12694 |issn=1474-919X |doi-access=free}} The sexes are similar with respect to plumage and size.{{Cite journal |last=Zefania |first=Sama |last2=Emilienne |first2=Razafimahatratra |last3=Faria |first3=Patrícia J |last4=Bruford |first4=Michael W |last5=Long |first5=Peter R |last6=Székely |first6=Tamás |date=2010-11-11 |title=Cryptic sexual size dimorphism in Malagasy plovers Charadrius spp. |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.2989/00306525.2010.519909 |journal=Ostrich |language=en |volume=81 |issue=3 |pages=173–178 |doi=10.2989/00306525.2010.519909 |issn=0030-6525|url-access=subscription }} Juveniles of the nominate and Malagasy subspecies also resemble the adults, although the forehead is brownish for a short time, and the wing coverts show buff fringes. This species is distinguished from the larger and darker Forbes's plover in that the latter has a brown forehead and lacks a white wingbar.
Breeding
Its nest is a bare scrape on shingle. Egg laying occurs from March to June in the tropics,{{cite book |last1=Hayman |first1=Peter |last2=Marchant |first2=John |last3=Prater |first3=Tony |title=Shorebirds – An identification guide: 96 Three-banded plover Charadrius tricollaris |date=1986 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |location=Boston |isbn=0-395-37903-2 |page=116-117, 290-291}} but mainly (over 70%) from July to October (i.e. late winter to early spring) in southern Africa.{{cite book|last=Tarboton |first=Warwick |title=A Guide to the Nests and Eggs of Southern African Birds |year=2001 |publisher=Struik |location=Cape Town |isbn=1-86872-616-9 |page=141}}{{cite book |last1=Tarboton |first1=W. R. |last2=Kemp |first2=M. I. |last3=Kemp |first3=A. C. |title=Birds of the Transvaal |date=1987 |publisher=Transvaal Museum |location=Pretoria |isbn=0-620-10006-0 |page=90}}
References
{{Reflist}}
- Ian Sinclair, Phil Hockey and Warwick Tarboton, SASOL Birds of Southern Africa (Struik 2002) {{ISBN|1-86872-721-1}}
- Hayman, Marchant and Prater Shorebirds {{ISBN|0-395-60237-8}}
External links
{{commons category|Charadrius tricollaris|Charadrius tricollaris}}
- Three-banded plover - [http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/249.pdf Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds].
{{Taxonbar|from=Q121596}}