Kittlitz's plover

Kittlitz's plover (Anarhynchus pecuarius) is a small shorebird (35–40 g) in the family Charadriidae that breeds near coastal and inland saltmarshes, sandy or muddy riverbanks or alkaline grasslands with short vegetation. It is native to much of Sub-Saharan Africa, the Nile Delta and Madagascar. It is thought to be mainly polygamous and has monomorphic plumage.

Kittlitz's plover is a small shorebird weighing between 35 and 40 grams. Both males and females share similar physical characteristics, with a black bill, dark brown eyes framed by black eyelids, and black legs, although at times, the legs can appear greenish or grey. During the breeding season, During the breeding season, the male displays distinct features, including a white forehead, a blackish bar followed by a narrow white bar on the forecrown, while the remainder of the crown appears brown with sandy tips on the feathers. A black stripe, separated from the crown by a white superciliary stripe, runs from the bill through the eye and extends to the side of the neck, forming a collar across the upper mantle. The mantle is dark grey-brown, and the other upperparts are sooty brown with feathers featuring sandy rufous margins. The face, chin and upper throat are white, while the rest of the underparts take on a yellowish hue, with a pale belly. Kittlitz's plover possesses blackish central tail feathers that progressively become lighter towards the tail's sides, and the outer one or two pairs are completely white. Notably, Kittlitz's plover is not sexually size dimorphic, meaning that males and females share similar size characteristics. The female plumage closely resembles that of the male, although the black band across the forecrown is narrower. The non-breeding plumage does not differ significantly from the breeding plumage. In this stage, the eye stripe takes on a browner shade, and the frontal bar is absent, while the underparts become considerably paler. Generally, adult Kittlitz's plovers exhibit a wing length ranging from 100 to 110 mm, an adult bill length between 15 and 23 mm, and an adult tarsus length between 26 and 33 mm. Juvenile Kittlitz's plovers closely resemble adults; however, they lack the black face marks, their upperparts appear brown, the hindneck collar is buff in color, and their underparts are white.