Bird Guide

Oriental Plover vs Wrybill

Oriental Plover (Anarhynchus veredus)

Oriental Plover

Anarhynchus veredus

Grassland

Adult male in breeding plumage: white face, throat and fore-crown; grey-brown hind-crown, hind-neck and back; belly white, demarcated with narrow black band and then broad chestnut breast band merging into white throat. Female, juvenile and non-breeding male: generally grey-brown upperparts and white belly; pale face with white streak above eye. Measurements: length 21–25 cm; wingspan 46–53 cm; weight 95 g. Among the red-breasted Charadrius plovers, this bird is relatively large, long-legged and long-winged.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Ron Knight from Seaford, East Sussex, United Kingdom · CC BY 2.0
Wrybill (Anarhynchus frontalis)

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

Where you might meet both

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