Malaysian Plover

The Malaysian Plover (Charadrius peronii) is a small (ca. 35–42 g) wader that nests on beaches and salt flats in Southeast Asia.

Description

The Malaysian Plover is 15 cm (5.9 in) in length. The male can be recognized by a thin black band around the neck; the female has a thin brown band. Its legs are pale. Its voice is a soft twit.

Reproduction

The Malaysian plovers lays two to five (mode of three) cryptic eggs on small scrapes on beaches. The eggs are incubated by both the male and female for about 30 days, and then both parents care for the precocial chicks until they can fly after about 30 more days . In Thailand, it may lay multiple clutches after successful or failed clutching during the breeding season which begins in late March and may last until September. It feeds on invertebrates on the beaches and mudflats.

Conservation status

This species is classified as near-threatened with about 10,000 individuals. They are thought to be declining because of infrastructure development and human disturbance. Increased human use of important beach habitat may cause trampling of eggs or chicks and also force adults off of nests so that eggs and chicks are vulnerable to heat stress. A study in the Gulf of Thailand suggested that the conversion of short, shrubby, dense vegetation into sparse Casuarina forests as well as the creation of sea walls that prevent chicks from moving between...
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