Wader ID Please

[LoveT]

This one will be really easy for you I expect!

I saw this wader back in January on a beach not too far from me.

It appeared to be alone, but there were Dunlin, Turnstone and Oystercatcher present.

I've checked my books (all two of them ) and can't decide what it might be, as I'm even worse at sea birds and waders than I am at other birds.

Please can you help?



Thanks

Thea

[Fourwings]

Grey Plover.

[Hedge Witch]

I agree, Grey Plover. I haven't seen one of these in years

[Tracey.A]

Yes, it's a Grey plover

Tracey

[LoveT]

Thanks for that

Just another dumb question - triggered by Hedge Witch, who said they hadn't seen one in years: How common are they? This was seen at a shingle beach on the south coast.

Thea

[Dae]

Well I think they're reasonably common in the wintertime, they seem to be a winter visitor - with only a few staying over the summer, according to the RSPB website anyways.

[Gill Catton]

Grey plover are lovely I think, they have a fairly distinctive call once you have your ear in you can hear them long before you can clearly see them, they're often stood around on their own and tend to move around in a rather ponderous way sometimes stopping with a leg still in the air like they have forgotten what they were going to get. Otherwise they tend to stand looking hunched up and depressed. Quite a distinctive bird once you have your eye in! Although It's usual to see them stood around singly or in loose groups of small numbers, I have also seen them in large flocks together with their black armpit (wingpit?) quite obvious.

An underrated bird in my opinion