Siberian Sand Plover Charadrius mongolus assuming breeding plumage, Sanjiagang (31.206763, 121.776470), near Pudong Airport, Shanghai, late April. (Craig Brelsford)Siberian Sand Plover Charadrius mongolus, non-breeding adult, Yangkou-Rudong (32.523280, 121.132812), Jiangsu, China, mid-September. Nominate breeds Lake Baikal to Sea of Ohkotsk and winters southeast China to Australia. C. m. stegmanni breeds northeast Asia and Kamchatka and winters Taiwan to New Guinea and Australia (Message & Taylor 208). Common passage migrant Shanghai. Nominate likely more common race on continental Asian coast (Brazil 162). Formerly grouped with Tibetan Sand PloverC. atrifrons under name Lesser Sand Plover. (Craig Brelsford)Siberian Sand Plover Charadrius mongolus showing short bill with bulbous upper mandible, a differentiator from the longer and straighter bill of Greater Sand PloverC. leschenaultii. Sanjiagang (31.206763, 121.776470), Shanghai, late April. (Craig Brelsford)Siberian Sand Plover showing traces of breeding plumage, Yangkou-Rudong (32.531478, 121.136493), Jiangsu, mid-September. Siberian Sand Plover is smaller than Greater Sand Plover and has shorter legs and a rounder head (Wiersma 437). MacKinnon (113) and Message and Taylor (152) note a fainter white wingbar in flight. When present, as bottom R, in breeding plumage, orange and greyish-brown markings on lower flanks are diagnostic and separate Siberian Sand Plover from Tibetan Sand Plover and Greater Sand Plover. Black line bordering upper breast, visible in these photos, also distinguishes Siberian from Tibetan and Greater. (Message & Taylor 62). (Craig Brelsford)
MacKinnon, John (2022). Guide to the Birds of China. Oxford University Press.
Message, Stephen & Don Taylor (2005). Waders of Europe, Asia and North America. Helm Field Guides, London.
Wiersma, P. (1996). Family Charadriidae (Plovers). P. 437, in del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Christie, D.A. eds. (1996). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 3. Hoatzin to Auks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
