The Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) is a small, pale plover of flat sandy beaches, easily told by its sand-coloured plumage, black legs and an incomplete breast band. At around 15–17 cm it is pale sandy above and white below, giving a very washed-out impression overall. Unlike the ringed plovers, it lacks a complete, connected breast band — only dark patches mark the sides of the breast. The legs are dark, almost black, and breeding males show a rusty nape and black facial markings. The call is a soft, sharp "pwit" or "pi-tt", along with rolling, slightly grating sounds during display, though these are heard only exceptionally in Sweden today.
The species is extinct as a Swedish breeding bird — the last nestings took place in the far south during the 1980s, and it has been classed as nationally extinct since 2002. It now appears only as an extremely rare vagrant, mainly along the south and west coasts between April and September, on sandy beaches and nearby shoreline habitat. Where it still breeds, nests are laid as a shallow scrape directly on open sand, mud flats or salt pans, with the female typically laying 3 eggs; such exposed sites are highly vulnerable to disturbance, predation and high water, and this sensitivity to disturbance on accessible beaches is thought to have contributed strongly to the species' disappearance as a Swedish breeder. It feeds on insects and their larvae, small crustaceans and worms picked from the beach surface and topmost sand layer, using the typical plover technique of a short run, an abrupt stop, and a quick peck before running on.
Read about this species in Swedish →