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Magellanic Plover
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Magellanic Plover
Pluvianellus socialis
The Magellanic plover (Pluvianellus socialis) is a rare and unique wader found only in southernmost South America. It was long placed in with the other plovers in the family Charadriidae; however, behavioural evidence suggested they were distinct, and molecular studies confirmed this, suggesting that they are actually more closely related to the sheathbills, a uniquely Antarctic family. As such it is now placed in its own family, Pluvianellidae. This species is not a long-distance migrant, although
From the article Magellanic plover on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
This species is in its structure and habits much like a turnstone, but it cannot be confused with any other wader species. Its upperparts and breast are pale grey, and the rest of the underparts are white. It has short red legs, a black bill and red eyes. In young birds, the eyes and legs are yellowish in colour, and the plumage is grey overall with scaling. The call is a dovelike coo.
Range & habitat
This species is not a long-distance migrant, although some birds move further north in southern Argentina in winter. The species breeds inland and then moves to the coast during the winter, particularly to estuaries. One of their preferred areas during winter is in Puerto Madryn and Península Valdes, Chubut, Argentina (Jehl 1975).
Wikipedia: “Distribution and habitat”
What it does
Magellanic plovers feed on small invertebrates, picked from the ground, or from under pebbles, again like a turnstone. They have been observed collecting worms in the bill in a similar fashion to a puffin.
Wikipedia: “Feeding”
Listen
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Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
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Every page naming Pluvianellus socialis in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 117177.