Subspecies:
Charadrius mongolus pamirensis Richmond, 1896

Synonyms

Cirrepedesmus mongolus Pall.

Description

Lesser Sand Plover is starling-sized bird. Adult male Lesser Sandplover in summer plumage has brownish-grey crown, nape and upperparts. Lores, cheeks, ear covers and rear part of forehead are black. Forehead is white with black median-strip. Chin and throat are white. Craw, breast and flanks are rusty-chestnut; craw is demarcated by narrow black band. Belly and undertail are white. Flight feathers are blackish with white bases of outer webs of inner primaries. Tail feathers are grayish, outer pair is almost white. Female in summer plumage appears similar except her forehead is brownish, craw and breast are dirty-buff. Adults in winter plumage have white forehead, grey-brown lores, cheeks and ear coverts. Upperparts are brown-grey with whitish feather tips. Craw, breast and flanks are brownish-buff with dark spots on craw-flanks. Juvenile birds are similar to winter adults, but white feather on head and breast have yellowish tinge, upperparts feathers have buff fringes. Sizes: wing 120-142, tarsus 30-36, bill 16-19 mm.

Biology

Lesser Sand Plover is common breeding migrant. It appears later, first arrived birds in Pamir recorded only in early May. It arrives in small groups. Inhabits open areas of alpine tundra. Breeds on shores of lakes and wide overflowing rivers of Pamir with pebble shores; on attitudes up to 4300 m. Pairs separating occurs from second half of May. Only female incubate clutch. In the beginning of incubating male stands near nest but later joints to other males and flies off to shores of lakes. But in some pairs both parents care to juveniles. Lesser Sand Plover eats mostly overland invertebrates. Autumn migration starts early, Plovers leave shores of Pamir lakes in end of August – early September.

References

И.А.Абдусалямов "Фауна Таджикской ССР". Том XIX, часть 1. Птицы. Душанбе - 1971.
"Птицы Казахстана" том 2. Алма-Ата, 1962.