Little ringed plover
Charadrius dubius
Anton Chechulin · Batumi, Adjara Georgia field photo
Key facts in one look
- Diet
- Insects, spiders and small crustaceans
- Status in Georgia
- Breeding bird, passage migrant and winter visitor
- Recorded regions
- Kvemo Kartli; Adjara; Abkhazia; Shida Kartli; Tbilisi; Guria; Imereti; Kakheti; Mtskheta-Mtianeti; Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti
- Size
- About 15 cm
- Habitat
- Sandy and pebbly shores of lakes and rivers
- Family
- Charadriidae
- Protection
- Globally LC (2025)
The little ringed plover (Charadrius dubius) is a small wader: it is about 15 cm long and weighs 30–50 g. It is sandy brown above and white below. It has a black-and-white head pattern, a black breast band and a yellow ring around the eye. On sandy and pebbly shores it runs in quick, short steps, stops suddenly and runs on again. It is harmless to people. The 2024 Georgian checklist lists it as a year-round breeding bird, passage migrant and winter visitor. Observations run from March to September, with the most in April and July; it has not been seen here from October to February. Records come from ten regions, most of them from Kvemo Kartli, at Lake Kumisi. Globally its risk of extinction is low (LC, 2025), although its numbers are falling.
Identification
Little ringed plover: how to identify it
A small, short-billed plover with a black-and-white head, a black breast band and a yellow ring around the eye. It is sandy brown above. In Georgia it is seen on the bare, sandy and pebbly shores of lakes and rivers.
It is about 15 cm long, with a wingspan of 32–35 cm, and weighs 30–50 g, about 38 g on average. The bill is short and black, the legs pale, pinkish or yellowish.
It is sandy brown above and white below. A black band runs across the forehead and between the eyes, the throat and a collar round the neck are white, and there is a black band across the breast. The yellow eye-ring is easy to see at close range. In flight the wing is plain brown, without a white bar.
The similar Charadrius hiaticula is larger, with orange legs and an orange-based bill, and shows a white wing bar in flight. The little ringed plover runs on the ground like a rolling ball, stops suddenly and runs on again. Sometimes it treads the mud with its feet to flush hidden insects.
Colour
Swatches are illustrative. Do not identify a species by colour alone.
For breeding it chooses bare or sparsely vegetated sandy and pebbly shores of shallow freshwater pools, lakes and slow rivers: river islands, dry stony riverbeds, and flats of sand or silt. It also uses man-made places such as gravel pits, sewage works and derelict industrial land. It usually avoids dense, tall vegetation, forest and the seashore. In Europe it rarely goes above 800 m, although it follows pebbly river banks into the mountains. In Georgia it is seen most often in Kvemo Kartli, at Lake Kumisi, in Gardabani Municipality and around the Tbilisi Sea. It is also often seen in Adjara, near Batumi, in the Chorokhi delta, at Gonio and near Kobuleti, in Abkhazia near Gagra, in Shida Kartli at Nadarbazevi Lake, and in Tbilisi, in Vake-Saburtalo. It has also been seen in Guria around Poti and in Lanchkhuti and Ozurgeti municipalities, in Imereti in Tskaltubo and Terjola municipalities, in Kakheti in Dedoplistskaro Municipality, in Mtskheta-Mtianeti in Kazbegi Municipality, and in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti at Anaklia and in Abasha Municipality. In Samtskhe-Javakheti there is only one record, near Gorelovka.
The little ringed plover map combines public iNaturalist observations. Regions are taken from the records-by-region table, and the status column separates regions with enough records from regions with too few records. Records run from March to September, with the most in April and July. Record counts reflect observation effort rather than population density.
Data: Reptiles.ge + iNaturalist · Methodology
- Field observation
- Several records in one spot
- Photo record
- Region with records
It is carnivorous. It eats mainly insects: beetles, flies and their larvae, ants, bugs, mayfly and dragonfly larvae, caddisflies, crickets and caterpillars. It also eats spiders, freshwater shrimps and other small crustaceans, small mussels, worms and snails. Plant seeds turn up in its diet rarely and probably by accident.
Over most of its range it is migratory. European birds cross the Sahara from late July to early September and winter in tropical Africa, returning to the breeding grounds from mid-March. The 2024 Georgian checklist lists it as a year-round breeding bird, passage migrant and winter visitor. Observations run from March to September, with the most in April and July. It has not been seen here from October to February so far. Outside the breeding season it is mostly solitary, sometimes in groups of up to 10 birds. In Europe it breeds from April to June, alone or in loose groups, with pairs 7 to 200 metres apart. The nest is a shallow scrape on sand, dry mud or bare rock near water, often on a small island. It lays 4 eggs, sometimes 3 to 5. Both the male and the female incubate, for 24–25 days. The chicks hatch covered in down, leave the nest soon after and start to fly at 24–27 days. It breeds once a year.
Globally the little ringed plover's risk of extinction is rated low (LC, 2025). There are about 503,000–863,000 mature birds, and numbers are falling. The main threat is damage to and loss of suitable places. At many breeding sites birds are disturbed by people seeking recreation, and river regulation and pollution damage the shores. The 2024 Georgian checklist also rates its risk in Georgia as low (LC).
Related guides
Continue with related pages
Yes. The 2024 Georgian checklist lists it as a breeding bird, passage migrant and winter visitor. Observations run from March to September, with the most in April and July.
Most often in Kvemo Kartli, at Lake Kumisi and in Gardabani Municipality, and also in Adjara near Batumi and in the Chorokhi delta, in Abkhazia near Gagra, and in Shida Kartli at Nadarbazevi Lake. Look on the bare, sandy and pebbly shores of lakes and rivers.
It is a small plover with a black-and-white head, a black breast band and a yellow ring around the eye. The bill is black and the legs pale. In flight it shows no white wing bar.
The 2024 Georgian checklist lists it as a breeding bird. It nests on the ground, on a sandy or pebbly shore close to water.
It is about 15 cm long, with a wingspan of 32–35 cm, and weighs 30–50 g.
Mainly insects and their larvae, as well as spiders, small crustaceans, worms and snails.
The little ringed plover is harmless to people. Globally its risk of extinction is low, although its numbers are falling. The 2024 Georgian checklist also rates it LC in Georgia.
References
What this profile is based on
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
Prepared by the Reptiles.ge editorial team from the sources listed here.
