Crab Plover

This bird resembles a plover, but has very long grey legs and a strong heavy black bill similar to a tern. Its black-and-white plumage and long-necked upright posture with heavy bill makes it distinctive and unmistakable. Its bill is unique among waders, and specialised for eating crabs. It has partially webbed toes. The plumage is white except for black on its back and in the primary feathers of the wings. They are noisy birds, calling frequently on their breeding sites and in their wintering grounds. The usual call is a ka similar to that of the Bar-tailed Godwit but repeated rapidly. Flocks may produce a whinnying sound that rises and at in the breeding season produce whistling kew-ki-ki notes.

The Crab Plover is classified as Least Concern. Does not qualify for a more at risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.

The crab plover ( Dromas ardeola ) of India, Arabia, and E Africa, ... Answer verified with This answer was verified with Encyclopedia.com Get more facts and information about plover. Or, view the full encyclopedia entry from The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. More

The natural rarity of the crab plover appears to be a function of limited availability of suitable nest-sites in close proximity to an abundant supply of crabs, which dominate their diet. - The crab plover (Dromas ardeola) is a large, long-legged, pied, exclusively marine wader. The sole representative of the family Dromadeidae, it is highly 'sought after' by birdwatchers because of its unusual appearance and rarity, having a very limited world distribution. More

KENYA: Crab Plovers at Mida Creek There are few places in the world where you can watch the tide come in at an extraordinary rate, advancing before your eyes. The mangrove-lined Mida Creek (above) is one of them, linked to the Indian Ocean just south of Malindi on coastal Kenya. More

The Crab Plover (left & above) is a dramatic wader of tidal mudflats around the Indian Ocean. Its distribution is very localized. Indeed, only nine nesting colonies are known in the entire world! Over 1500 pairs nest in Iran, 300 pairs breed in the United Arab Emirates (where these photos were taken), 85 pairs in Oman, 110 pairs in Saudi Arabia, and an unknown number in Somalia (Rands 1996). It is an odd bird in many ways. More

The Crab-plover or Crab Plover (Dromas ardeola) is a bird related to the waders, but sufficiently distinctive to merit its own family Dromadidae. Its relationship within the Charadriiformes is unclear, some have considered it to be closely related to the thick-knees, or the pratincoles, while others have considered it closer to the auks and gulls. It is the only member of the genus Dromas and is unique among waders in making use of ground warmth to aid incubation of the eggs. More

which has a lot of Cormorants, Crab Plovers and Herons on the north side of the Mina Al Arab.Bird-watchers rally to support winged friends by Gulf News (United Arab Emirates)Crab plovers are also plentiful while other migrant waders frequent the more sheltered flats and creeks. More

is to group crab plovers within the shorebirds or waders of the suborder Charadrii. The Charadrii comprise a large and diverse group. Based on plumage and initial appearance, crab plovers closely resemble avocets (family Recurvirostridae), yet there are greater similarities in skeletal characteristics and external morphology with thick-knees (family Burhinidae) and coursers and pratincoles (family Glareolidae). More

The crab plover is remarkable for being the only representative of the Dromadidae family, which means that in evolutionary terms this unusual shorebird has no close living relatives (3). This species has a distinctive appearance, with white plumage on the body and head, contrasting with jet-black primaries and back feathers, and a long, black, gull-like bill. Like most waders, the legs are long with partially webbed toes, and the tail is short. More

The crab plover inhabits sandy and muddy shores on mainland coasts and on islands, as well as intertidal sandflats and mudflats, estuaries, lagoons and exposed coral reefs (1) (2). During breeding, this species has a specific requirement for sandy islands or extensive dunes in which nesting burrows can be excavated (1). - Noisy and gregarious, the crab plover is commonly encountered in small groups foraging on the shore for its preferred prey of crabs (1) (2). More

Aspects of the topic crab plover are discussed in the following places at Britannica. More

The crab plover (Dromas ardeola) is a large, long-legged, pied, exclusively marine wader. Taxonomy - The Crab Plover (Dromas ardeola) is related to the waders, but is sufficiently distinctive to merit its own family Dromadidae. Its relationship within the Charadriiformes is unclear: Some have considered it to be closely related to the Thick-knees, or the pratincoles, while others have considered it closer to the auks and gulls. More

plovers, as the crab plover (Dromas ardeola); the American upland, plover (Bartramia longicauda); and other species of sandpipers. Note: Among the more important species are the blackbellied plover or blackbreasted plover (Charadrius squatarola) of America and Europe; - called also gray plover, bull-head plover, Swiss plover, sea plover, and oxeye; the golden plover (see under Golden); the ring plover or ringed plover (Aegialitis hiaticula). See Ringneck. More

Crab plovers: An entry from Thomson Gale's Grzimek ... $2.95 $2.95 Gale proudly presents the completely revised and updated version of the acclaimed Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia set. Hailed by many as the best reference work on animals ever published, a legacy left to us by famed zoologist and animal lover Bernhard Grzimek, this set is renowned for its scientific ... More

The Crab Plover (Dromas ardeola) is a bird related to the waders, but sufficiently distinctive to merit its own family Dromadidae. Its relationship within the Charadriiformes is unclear, some have in close to the Thick-knees, or the pratincoles, or even closer to the auks and gulls. It is the only member of the genus Dromas. More

Crab Plover is a strikingly patterned large wader. When head sunk on shoulders, large head and massive bill (2 to 2,30 inches) give an impression of long-legged gull when seen at some distance. Oil pollution is an ever present problem, with pollution of mangrove areas, crabs, birds, and hosts of other wildlife. Collection of both eggs and young for human consumption as certainly happened in the early years of this century, until relatively recently (1970), may still pose a serious threat. More

Crab Plover - Definition = Crab Plover Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Charadriiformes Family: Dromadidae Genus: Dromas Species: ardeola Binomial name Dromas ardeola More