Grey Plover

A stout-billed, medium-sized shorebird with a chunky build, the Black-bellied Plover displays a striking black face and belly marked with black-and-white patterns during breeding season. Its nonbreeding appearance is a more uniformly drab gray with a whitish belly, while juveniles exhibit crisp golden-hued speckles above. Often mistaken for golden-plovers, Black-bellied Plovers can be distinguished by their stockier shape, thicker bill, and distinctive black "armpits" in flight throughout all seasons. These birds feed on beaches and mudflats through a routine of walking, running, stopping, and pecking at the surface, frequently congregating in flocks. Widely distributed globally, particularly along coastlines, they are less prevalent inland, preferring to breed on Arctic tundra.