This chunky plover is 19–22 cm long, slightly larger than a
common ringed plover, and is conspicuously long-legged and thick-billed. Breeding males have sandy buff backs and white underparts. The breast, forehead and nape are variably orange in summer, and there is a black eye mask in summer. The female is duller and greyer, and winter and juvenile birds are browner, apart from a hint of rufous on the head. The legs are greenish-yellow and the
bill black. In all plumages, it is very similar to its close relatives
Siberian sand plover A. mongolus and
Tibetan sand plover A. atrifrons. Separating the species may be straightforward in mixed wintering flocks on an Indian beach, where the difference in size and structure is obvious; it is another thing altogether to identify a lone vagrant to western Europe, where both species are very rare. The problem is compounded in that the southwest Asian subspecies of the greater is the most similar to the other two species in its smaller bill. ==Ecology==