Grey Plover

Common Name	Grey PloverBirdlife International
Species name	Pluvialis squatarolaBirdlife International
Family	Charadriidae
Genus
Local Name	Country Appearance Local name Brunei Darussalam     Cambodia     China     Indonesia     Japan Yes ダイゼン Lao PDR     Malaysia     Mongolia     Myanmar     Philippines     Republic of Korea     Singapore     Thailand     Vietnam

 

Visual and Sound Image

Photos

 

Videos

 

Sounds

 

Identification

No descriptions

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Range Description

No descriptions

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Ecology

Ecology (Behaviour)

This species is fully migratory1. It departs its breeding grounds from late-July to September (southward movements continuing into November)1, 2 and returns from late-May to June1. It breeds from May to August2 in solitary well-dispersed pairs1 and forages alone or in small loose flocks3 of up to 30 individuals1. It is gregarious during the winter however, often roosting in large flocks containing up to several thousand individuals1.

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Habitat

<Breeding> The species nests in the high Arctic in both upland and valley locations1 between the treeline and the coast4 , utilising dry stony tundra with sedge, moss, lichen1, grass3 or dwarf birch4, peat ridges in tundra marshes3, dry exposed ridges, riverbanks, raised sand or gravel beaches, and rocky slopes3.
<Non-breeding> Outside of the breeding season the species frequents intertidal mudflats, saltmarshes1, sandflats1, 3 and beaches1 of oceanic coastlines, bays and estuaries3. During migration it may also be found inland on lakes, pools or grasslands1.

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Diet

<Breeding> During the breeding season the diet of this species consists largely of adult and larval insects such as beetles and Diptera1 as well as some plant matter (e.g. grass seeds and stems)1.
<Non-breeding> When on the coast in its wintering range the species takes marine polychaete worms, molluscs and crustaceans1 (e.g. crabs, sand shrimps)3, occasionally also taking insects (e.g. grasshoppers and beetles) or earthworms when in inland habitats on passage1.

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Breeding Site

The nest is a shallow scrape1 on dry ground in exposed, stony sites4, neighbouring nests not less than 400 m apart1.

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References

1. del Hoyo et al. (1996). 2. Hayman et al. (1986). 3. Johnsgard (1981). 4. Snow and Perrins (1998). 5. Evans (1986).

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Status

International Status

IUCN Red List Category

LC

Justification

This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is very large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
<Trend justification> The overall population trend is decreasing, although some populations have unknown trends (Wetlands International 2006). This species has had stable population trends over the last 40 years in North America (data from Breeding Bird Survey and/or Christmas Bird Count: Butcher and Niven 2007) Note, however, that these surveys cover less than 50% of the species's range in North America.

 

National Status

Country	Category	Reference
Brunei Darussalam
Cambodia
China
Indonesia
Japan
Korea
Lao PDR
Malaysia
Mongolia
Myanmar
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Vietnam

 

Management

Threat

No descriptions

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Information

In the UK there is evidence that the removal of Spartina anglica from tidal mudflats using a herbicide is beneficial for the species5.

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Current Conservation

No descriptions

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Current Conservation

No descriptions

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Legal Protection

Country	Status	Reference
Brunei Darussalam
Cambodia
China
Indonesia
Japan
Korea
Lao PDR
Malaysia	Protected Wild Birds Part I: Game Birds	Law of Malaysia Act 76, Protection of Wild Life Act 1972 (Amend. 2006)
Mongolia
Myanmar
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Vietnam

 

Related Links

 

Range

Geographical Information

Migration Route

 

Asian Waterbird Census

Descriptions

The Asian Waterbird Census (AWC) was initiated in 1987 and runs in parallel with other waterbird censuses carried out in Africa, Europe, Central and West Asia and Latin America under the umbrella of the International Waterbird Census (IWC), which is organised by Wetlands International.

The AWC takes place annually, during the second and third weeks of January, and is carried out by volunteers interested in collecting information on waterbirds and wetlands as a basis for contributing to their conservation.

Reference: Li, Z.W.D., Bloem, A., Delany S., Martakis G. and Quintero J. O. 2009. Status of Waterbirds in Asia - Results of the Asian Waterbird Census: 1987-2007. Wetlands International, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Census Data

BRUNEI DARUSSALAM	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual			1									7
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)			1									1
The total number of count sites	2	3	3	2	4	4	0	4	4	4	4	5	5	0	0	0	9	0	0	1	0	9
CAMBODIA	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual											108
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)											3
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	11	0	0	12	12	11	5	1	6	9	6	6
CHINA	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual			56		78	548	11	21	16	99	188							4770	1597	1721	2205	10871
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)			3		4	5	3	2	1	1	2							8	10	14	17	22
The total number of count sites	0	1	34	12	50	60	67	29	6	14	6	15	21	20	14	10	22	45	80	81	59	72
INDONESIA	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual					126	84	244	380	332		153			55		18	29	24		361	4	11
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)					6	2	3	6	6		3			1		1	2	2		3	1	1
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	1	19	8	17	17	15	19	16	0	0	47	12	10	40	34	14	16	15	23
JAPAN	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual					73			304	724	437	1045	163	694	581	2626	3691	2790	3504	2687	2764	2643	2731
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)					2			5	12	9	10	4	6	5	39	38	36	37	33	37	32	35
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	53	39	52	47	20	50	40	47	37	41	37	107	112	103	109	97	159	142	137
LAO PDR	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	2	4	5	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	14	1	0	0	0	1	0	0
MALAYSIA	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual				779	1634	1512	683	340	457	50	15			300	483	149	107	583	523	778	1374	398
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)				3	5	7	4	2	2	3	1			1	2	4	2	3	5	4	18	5
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	59	68	93	85	17	10	7	10	0	0	20	25	25	25	43	43	82	82	40
MYANMAR	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual							23			2						42		3	23	9	126
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)							1			1						1		1	1	2	9
The total number of count sites	0	5	3	12	17	15	21	20	13	12	2	4	2	0	7	32	47	73	24	31	32	19
PHILIPPINES	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual					141	162	583	190	300	457	362	159	534	399	265	402	793	381	601	185	378	690
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)					9	8	10	9	11	17	11	7	10	13	11	11	15	14	13	11	12	19
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	0	19	21	34	39	46	47	39	28	29	32	43	38	50	47	56	54	65	108
SINGAPORE	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual						37	21	39	13	4	26	1		33	9		47	41
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)						1	2	2	1	1	1	1		2	1		2	1
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	0	4	12	17	15	13	14	10	10	6	11	10	10	8	9	9	8	8	7
REPUBLIC OF KOREA	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual			12		3	140	51			200	240	1011	1702	2356	4680	1763	1569	1702	2320	879	1015	512
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)			1		1	1	2			1	2	4	4	8	10	10	10	10	13	12	13	13
The total number of count sites	0	0	10	12	22	20	20	15	10	22	25	22	14	68	99	112	118	116	117	123	127	127
THAILAND	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual	95				64	155	196	98	101	9		314		228	206			10	121	163	481	150
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)	6				1	2	5	5	3	1		2		1	1			2	2	10	13	8
The total number of count sites	10	8	3	20	26	12	23	16	17	5	9	3	1	1	7	3	9	26	20	82	99	33
VIETNAM	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual													250	86	1		150		32	126	399	96
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)													1	1	1		5		2	3	5	5
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	1	2	0	1	4	0	1	1	0	1	8	2	2	16	4	4	9	6	11

 

Population

Descriptions

 

Population Trend

 

Additional Information

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Climate change species distributions

 

Other Information

• Detailed species account from Birds in Europe: population estimates, trends and conservation status (BirdLife International 2004)