A tiny white-gray-brown bird runs swiftly ahead of me on the sands of the Rio São Lourenço, which is called Rio Cuiabá as well. It is a Collared Plover (Charadrius collaris). I lie down on the sand and let the bird come. It walks here, sometimes there. But over time the wader gets closer and closer. I decide to take a few photos with the 4.0 / 500 on the monopod from the plover, but also from the other waders on the sandbanks. Who knows when to find them again?
In addition to the Pied Lapwings (Vanellus cayanus) I dedicate a lot of time especially to the Collared Plover. With their chestnut-brown neck, gray-brown mottled coat and pure white bottoms, they are very rich in contrast. There is also a black chest band. The male I photograph has a white forehead bounded by a black frontal strip and at the bottom by a black eyestripe. Strikingly are the long pinkisj legs. Collared Plovers differ from most similar species of plovers by the narrow black breast band.
Actually, I wanted to make my way back today via the Transpantaneira. A rain front is announced. If the road is soaked and I have to drive with snow chains, I must pull these down before each bridge, because otherwise I will irrevocably disassemble the bridge and my land cruisers, too. The chains get caught in no time in the fixing iron or in the protruding nails.
Other sympatric Charadrius plovers occurring in similar habitats look very similar. One of them is Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus), the American representative of our Kentish Plover (Charadrius Continue reading Collared Plover on a sandbar in the Pantanal