Common Little Ringed Plover

Charadrius dubius

Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Charadriidae
Presence in the Strait: Resident
Abundance: scarce
Protection in Spain: Special protection (List)
In Spanish: Chorlitejo chico

Length: 14–15 cm
Wingspan: 42–48 cm
Weight: 40 g

Presence in the Strait

Scarce resident of rivers and reservoirs (>20 pairs), rare and localised during winter.

Identification

Small, with quick flight and striking, repetitive cry of «pii-u». Greyish-brown upper body and white lower body. Distinctive black breast-band, eye-stripe and headband. Short bill, yellowish-green legs and yellow eye-ring. Plain, dark upper wing.

Movements

Peaks of prenuptial migration towards the end of March and beginning of April and postnuptial in 1st hf. September.

Ring recoveries

Holland (2).

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.

Calendar in the Strait

60 %

Peak in March. Observations under CC0 or CC BY licences. The distribution also reflects observation effort.

Where it is seen

Open records from the atlas database, in cells of about 3.6 km. Opacity follows the square root of the count, and also reflects where people observe most.

See on the map

First open record: 8 June 2009
Latest record: 16 March 2024

The oldest and the most recent open observation in the extended area. A recent first observation does not mean the species is new: it means nobody had published it openly before.

Conservation

The catalogues, Andalusian and Spanish, are what binds; the Red Book assesses the Spanish population with IUCN criteria, and the global Red List is the context.

LCNTVUENCR

Andalusian Catalogue: Special protection (List)
Spanish Catalogue: Special protection (List)
Red Book of the Birds of Spain 2021: LC · Least concern · breeding — LC · Least concern · wintering or migrating
Global Red List (IUCN): LC · Least concern

Andalusian Catalogue: Junta de Andalucía, list of 24 April 2025. Spanish Catalogue: MITECO, table of 30 June 2025. Red Book: SEO/BirdLife, 2021 (Annex I). IUCN: via GBIF, 6 September 2026. Red Book and IUCN categories are assessments; catalogue categories are legal obligations.

Where they come from

2 birds ringed in other countries and recovered in the area.

Netherlands2

See the journey on the map

Same genus in the Strait

Kentish Plover15–17 cm · Resident · overlapping size
Ringed Plover18–20 cm · Seasonal
Eurasian Dotterel21–21 cm · Vagrant

Species of the same genus that also occur here, ordered by how close they are in size. Being relatives does not mean they are confused in the field, but that is where the doubts start: compare size and season.

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Charadriidae
GBIF taxon key: 7937336

Sources

Distribution and calendar: Bioestrecho's own database, ingested from GBIF and OBIS
Photograph: Kim, CC BY, vía iNaturalist
Taxonomy: GBIF backbone, pending WoRMS for marine taxa
Editorial text: written by Bioestrecho
Last revised: 8 September 2026

Common Little Ringed Plover

Presence in the Strait

Identification

Movements

Ring recoveries

Gallery