By Magnus Robb, Lukas Pelikan & The Sound Approach

Little Ringed Plover

Something about the nocturnal píu of a Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius commands respect. Assertive in tone, concise in its form and loud enough to carry far. This bird will not easily be waylaid on its long journeys between the Palearctic and the tropics.

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Little Ringed Plover 
Charadrius dubius 
Hanko, Uusimaa, Finland, 00:10, 6 May 2050 (Dick Forsman). Four flight calls of a presumed nocturnal migrant, with a faint response from locals in the form of song. For a zoomed-in sonagram see h) below. Background: Common Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs. 200506.DF.001024.22

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Little Ringed Plovers do not need many companions to feel safe. Most travel alone, and what they miss in group size they make up for in ubiquity. Within their latitudinal range, they can pass almost anywhere at night.

Flight calls of 'LRP' are the same night and day, and indeed this applies to their whole repertoire: after reaching the breeding grounds, they remain rather active at night. Given that they breed almost throughout Europe, telling migrants from breeders can be a challenge. Any migrant passing overhead is likely to provoke a response from those who have already settled below. Conversely, it may happen that a Little Ringed Plover migrating over unsuitable habitat may give a snatch of song, or some call more closely associated with breeding behaviour.

Identification

píu call

  • short, medium-pitched, descending píu, with accent on the í
  • shaped like a hand-axe about to fall to the left
  • 'blade' rises a little to a fairly sharp angle, often with a slightly concave curve; 'shaft' falls from there to a quieter and lower ending, usually with a smooth concave curve (a, b, d) but sometimes with a more crooked shape (e)
  • duration 112 - 209 ms (90% range; median 162 ms; n = 40)
  • frequency range for 'shaft', 2 - 3.9 kHz (mean maximum 3.4 kHz; mean minimum 2.6 kHz; n = 40)
  • at very close range, sometimes a very fine 'foreleg' and 'hindleg' may appear (b, h)
  • a few calls have a low-pitched 'foot' right at the end

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a) Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius Sapal da Aldeia Nova, Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal, 21:29, 6 July 2020. Single nocturnal flight call. Background: Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus. 200706.MR.212950.02

b) Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius Albufereta, Mallorca, Spain, 01:27, 10 May 2016.Two nocturnal flight calls. Sonagram shows first call. 160510.MR.012744.02

c) Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius Dhahran, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia, 19:06, 30 April 2020 (JBn) Single flight call of a nocturnal migrant. 200430.MR.190608.13

d) Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius Sagres, Vila do Bispo, Portugal, 00:20, 16 July, 2020 (GM). Two flight calls of a nocturnal migrant. Sonagram shows first call. 200716.MR.002023.02

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e) Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius Besh Barmag, Siyazan, Azerbaijan, 02:09, 3 April 2019 (BB). Single flight call of a nocturnal migrant. 190403.MR.020942.01

f) Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius Besh Barmag, Siyazan, Azerbaijan, 01:19, 20 June 2019 (BB). Several flight calls of a nocturnal migrant. Background: Eastern Olivaceous Warbler Iduna pallida and Common Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos. 190620.MR.011935.02

g) Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius Dhahran, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia, 22:36, 5 April 2020 (JBn). Single flight call of a nocturnal migrant. 200405.MR.223644.03

h) Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius Uusimaa, Finland, 00:10, 6 May 2050 (Dick Forsman). Single flight call of a nocturnal migrant. For longer version see top of page. 200506.DF.001024.22

Effects of recording quality

  • 'Foreleg' and 'hindleg' only appear in sonagrams from high quality recordings
  • Main descending part of the call (hand-axe 'shaft') appears shorter in poorer quality recordings

prip call

  • short, slightly metallic prip on level pitch
  • subtle roughness briefly at start
  • pitch same as in píu, but flat or very slightly rising; peak frequency 3.2 - 3.5 kHz (mean 3.3 kHz; n = 5)
  • sonagram reveals frequency jump right at the end; drops suddenly to under 2kHz
  • since 2nd harmonic of low terminal structure is stronger than fundamental, it looks like a jump up
  • duration 88 - 124 ms (90% range; n = 5)

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i) Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius Paralimni salt lake, Paralimni, Cyprus, 03:08, 26 April 2019. Nocturnal flight calls over a saltmarsh: single prip call followed by a píu. Background: Black-winged Stilts Himantopus himantopus and Eurasian Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus. 190426.MR.030855.01

 j) Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius Sapal da Aldeia Nova, Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal, 02:23, 3 July 2020. Prip calls in flight over a wetland. Background: crickets. 200703.MR.022321.02

k) Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius Besh Barmag, Siyazan, Azerbaijan, 21:23, 15 May 2019 (BB). Prip calls of a possible nocturnal migrant in flight. Background: Marsh Frogs Pelophylax ridibundus. 190515.MR.212331.02

l) Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius Besh Barmag, Siyazan, Azerbaijan, 20:50, 16 May 2019 (BB). Prip calls of a possible nocturnal migrant in flight. Background: Marsh Frogs Pelophylax ridibundus. 190516.MR.205010.12

Effects of recording quality

  • Terminal feature (sudden frequency drop) easily lost at a distance.
  • Fundamental frequency of this final part only discernible at close range.
  • Very short 'foreleg' and 'hindleg' visible in high quality sonagrams.

Similar NFCs

píu calls

  • Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola usually has rapidly doubled or tripled calls. On sonagrams, the occasional one-note call might bring to mind a Little Ringed Plover, but the duration is much shorter and the call is around 1 kHz higher-pitched.
  • Ortolan Bunting Emberiza hortulana has descending tew calls that may recall Little Ringed Plover, but usually without the initial rising part, compared above to an axe-blade. They are at least 1 kHz higher-pitched, with a more diffuse-sounding timbre, lacking the assertive, concentrated tone of a Little Ringed Plover.

Where and when?

  • anywhere: over marshes, forests, but also towns and offshore
  • any time: both diurnal and nocturnal
  • can be expected at any hour

Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius Maximum estimates of calling individuals per night: low, medium and high activity. See introduction for a full explanation.