Egyptian plover

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Egyptian plover
Kaur Wetlands, the Gambia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Order:
Family:
Pluvianidae
Genus:
Pluvianus

Vieillot, 1816
Species:
P. aegyptius
Binomial name
Pluvianus aegyptius
(Linnaeus, 1758)

The Egyptian plover is a wader. It is the only member of the genus Pluvianus.

It is sometimes called the crocodile bird. This is because of a story dating to Herodotus. In the story the crocodiles lie on the shore with their mouths open. The plovers fly into the crocodiles' mouths to feed on bits of meat between the crocodiles' teeth. There is no evidence of this actually happening.[2]

The Egyptian plover lives in tropical sub-Saharan Africa. It breeds on sandbars in large rivers. Its two or three eggs are buried in warm sand. It feeds by pecking for insects. The call is a high-pitched krrr-krrr-krrr.

References[change | change source]

  1. BirdLife International (2004). Pluvianus aegyptius. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006.
  2. Adam Britton (2009-09-06). "Croc Blog: Crocodile myths #1 - the curious trochilus". Crocodilian.blogspot.com. Archived from the original on 2013-03-11. Retrieved 2011-10-20.

Other websites[change | change source]