White-faced Plover

Appearance

The white-faced plover grows to a length of about 17 cm. It has a rounded head with a white fore-crown and a white supercilium. The crown is pale rufous brown upper parts are pale brownish-grey. The hind collar, throat and underparts are white. The beak and legs are dark and the tail short. Compared to the rather similar Kentish plover, it has a thicker, blunter beak, white lores, paler crown and upperparts, less black on the lateral breast patches and a larger white wingbar.

Distribution

This bird is found along a wide seaboard area of southern China and adjacent northern Vietnam; its wintering range extends south across eastern Indochina towards Sumatra. It typically inhabits sandy beaches, mudflats and saltpans, and outside the breeding season visits reclaimed areas.

Habitat

This bird is found along a wide seaboard area of southern China and adjacent northern Vietnam; its wintering range extends south across eastern Indochina towards Sumatra. It typically inhabits sandy beaches, mudflats and saltpans, and outside the breeding season visits reclaimed areas.The diet of this bird has been little studied but is presumed to be similar to that of the Kentish plover which feeds on small invertebrates such as insects and their larvae, spiders, molluscs, crustaceans and marine worms. It feeds on the foreshore, searching visually for prey then dashing forward to catch the prey or probing the substrate with its beak. Its breeding habits are not known.