Kentish Plover vs Wrybill

Kentish Plover

Anarhynchus alexandrinus

Small40 g

The Kentish plover is a small shorebird weighing around 40 g as an adult. Both male and female birds have black bills and dark legs, however adults have dimorphic plumage. During the breeding season, males have a black horizontal head bar, two incomplete dark breast-bands on each side of their breast, black ear coverts and a rufous nape and crown (although there is some variation between breeding populations), whereas the females are paler in these areas, without the dark markings. Voice: The alarm call, referred to as kittup call, is often heard both on the ground and in the air and can occur on its own, or paired with a tweet, heard as too-eet. The threat note is described as a "twanging, metallic, dwee-dwee-dweedweedwee sound".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Original Hobbyfotowiki, this edit MPF · CC0

Wrybill

Anarhynchus frontalis

Small58 gRiverine

The wrybill is a small, plump plover, measuring 20 to 21 cm (7.9–8.3 in) in length and weighing between 43 and 71 g (1.5–2.5 oz). The plumage is slightly sexually dimorphic. The male has a white forehead and pale grey crown, nape, back, wings and tail and a white throat, breast, belly and rump, with a thin black band across the breast. This band is thinner in the female, and much less distinct in both sexes in the non-breeding season. The other difference between the sexes is a small black bar between the white forehead and the grey crown, which is present in the males but not the females.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Renke Lühken · CC BY 2.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Kentish Plover and Wrybill.