White-fronted plover

Four or five subspecies are recognized, which vary in the colour shade of the neck collar and breast: • A. m. arenaceus (Clancey, 1971) occurs from southern Mozambique to the south-western Cape Province in South Africa. • A. m. marginatus (Vieillot, 1818), the nominate subspecies, occurs from southern Angola to the south-western Cape Province. • A. m. mechowi (Cabanis, 1884) occurs locally in Africa south of the Sahara to northern Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe and northern Mozambique. • A. m. tenellus (Hartlaub, 1861) is endemic to Madagascar. • A. m. pons is a subspecies that is not currently accepted by all authorities. ==Description==

, Namibia The average white-fronted plover weighs approximately 45-50 g, and the two sexes differ slightly in plumage coloration. Adult male plovers show a white forecrown and supercilium, with a dark band crossing the mid crown, with the rest of the crown a sandy grey colour. The face is mainly white, with a blackish brown stripe running from behind the eye to the ear coverts. The mantle, back, and rump is light greyish brown, with pale brown to grey fringing feathers. The upper covert and central feathers of the tail are black, and the lateral feathers are white. Primaries and secondaries are dark brown with white shafts, bases, and inner webs. White-fronted plovers also have a pale dusky-brown lateral patch on the upper breast, and white underparts, occasionally with a washed chestnut lower breast and upper belly. The eyes are brown, the bill is black, and the legs are pale grey, green-grey, or pale green/olive. Adult females have a similar appearance to adult males, however the black crown band is less defined and not as thick, and may even be absent in some cases. Additionally, the wing of the females is slightly longer than that of the males. Juveniles have similar markings to adult females, but always lack the crown band altogether, and there is no black colouration on the head- lores are brown. The lateral breast patch is very variable between individuals of this species. ==Calls==

The voice of a white-fronted plover is often a gentle piping ', ', ', and ', as well as '. When a plover is defending a territory, a harsh ' can be heard, followed by a ' or '. When the incomplete egg set is visited, a ' sound is called, and during incubation a short ' sound or ' is made when alarmed. Other alarm calls consist of ' and '. Adult courtship is a sharp ', and freshly hatched chicks often call a '''', to get the attention of their parent. ==Distribution, movement and habitat==

, south-western Madagascar Distribution The white-fronted plover is endemic to sub-saharan Africa, and occurs at varying densities from Senegambia and Somalia to South Africa. The species is present along the entire South African coast and is also found inland, near large lakes and rivers. It also inhabits Madagascar. A genetic study reported genetic differentiation between Madagascar and the mainland population. Movement The white-fronted plover has both resident and partially migratory populations, with some birds undertaking local seasonal movements. The coastal populations are largely sedentary, but occasionally move to more sheltered shores from exposed areas during harsh winters. Flooding of the lakes or the shores that they inhabit might urge inland populations to migrate. Birds mostly leave from December to May, moving from their inland habitats to the East coast of South Africa. It also nests on sandy shores, near both alkaline and fresh water inland rivers and lakes. ==Feeding==

The white-fronted plover forages during both day and night, using the typical plover run-stop-search technique. This consists of running around, stopping suddenly to peck at an item and then running again. Prey can be pecked from the surface of water, or caught with shallow jabs, inserting less than half of the bill into the substratum. Another method used to forage is foot-trembling, which involves vibrating the toes on substratum to disturb small insects or force invertebrates to the surface. This has not been reported in the Malagasy populations. Other feeding techniques include flying up to catch insects, and feeding on insects that wash up on shore after getting caught in water. The main prey of the white-fronted plover are sand flies, grasshoppers, termites, mosquito pupae, fairy shrimp, gastropods, bivalves, isopods, crabs, and other small crustaceans and worms. Plovers mainly forage in the upper half of the intertidal zone on sandy beaches, along high water lines and flooded depressions of dunes in summer. In winter, they forage lower on the shore. They often follow the waves in and out, foraging on the freshly wetted ground. They prefer foraging during low tide, but also in kelp wrack at high tide. In the middle of the day, they often stop foraging to preen. Some individuals defend their feeding territories year round, while others forage in non-territorial flocks, sometimes in mixed-species flocks with sanderlings (Calidris alba) and curlew sandpipers (Calidris ferruginea). ==Behaviour==

Breeding The white-fronted plover is a monogamous solitary breeder with a life expectancy of approximately 12 years, although there is evidence that individuals can live much longer than this. It is usually found in pairs or in small flocks, but can also appear in larger flocks during the breeding season. For example, a flock of 375 individuals was observed in Namibia. Mates generally stay faithful to each other for a long period of time, however 'divorce' has been recorded in some cases. Plovers that have lost mates have been observed to acquire new mates, without losing their territory. This monogamy may be due to a reduced availability of alternative breeding options or possibly high costs of divorce. Territories Breeding pairs may have one breeding territory close to the high water mark that they are able to feed in, or have two territories that are defended, one for feeding and one for nesting. Nesting territories have an average size of 1.6 ha, and nests can be as close as 16.2 m to each other. The size and boundaries of these territories do not appear to differ much between years of breeding, and site fidelity was recorded as 97.3% for pairs that stayed together between years. They are often built among beach debris or near dune vegetation. It is thought that the male undertakes the majority of incubation during the night. If a clutch is lost, it is highly likely that a pair will re-lay eggs. ==Parental care==

The fledging period of chicks is approximately 35–38 days, and the proportion of hatched chicks that actually fledge is estimated to be 28%. If a predator or threat is near, adults with chicks or eggs near hatching date will perform distraction displays such as 'rodent running' and 'injury feigning'. 'Rodent running' consists of the adult running fast, with a low head and a low spread tail, similar to a fleeing rodent. Injury feigning consists of the individual running or cowering on the ground whilst flapping one or both wings, with a partly spread tail. Chicks feed for themselves immediately after hatching, however parents can lead chicks to foraging areas up to 2.2 km from the nest. The annual adult survival rate for white-fronted plovers is 89-92%. This species is considerably longer lived than their northern relatives. ==Conservation==

The white-fronted plover is classified as Least Concern by the IUCN due to its extremely large range, large population size, and while total population is decreasing, it appears not to do so at a threatening rate. In Zimbabwe and southern Mozambique, an extensive recession of the species' inland range has taken place due to changes to river morphologies resulting from dam constructions. Major causes of nest loss in some regions are flooding due to spring tides and disturbance from tourists or off-road vehicles that drive through the breeding sites. ==References==