Pluvialis squatarola
Silhouette: Emily Willoughby · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The grey plover or black-bellied plover (Pluvialis squatarola) is a large plover breeding in Arctic regions. It is a long-distance migrant, with a nearly worldwide coastal distribution when not breeding. The grey plover was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Tringa squatarola. It is now placed with three other plovers in the genus Pluvialis that was introduced by the French ornithologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The genus name is Latin and means relating to rain, from pluvia, "rain". It was believed that they flocked when rain was imminent. The species name squatarola is a Latinised version of Sgatarola, a Venetian name for some kind of plover.
The English common name used for this species differs in different parts of the world. It is generally known as "grey plover" in the Old World and "black-bellied plover" in the New World. Three subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Kuwait City | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | |
| 3 | Maputo | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 4 | Manama | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | |
| 5 | Havana | 🇨🇺 Cuba | |
| 6 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 7 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 8 | Casablanca | 🇲🇦 Morocco | |
| 9 | Rabat | 🇲🇦 Morocco | |
| 10 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monterey Bay Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Seattle Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Montreal Biodome | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Seattle Marine Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-bellied Plover sighting in Karachi on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 66th most-seen of the 97 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October to December
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Black-bellied Plover in Karachi on a given day, against under 5% in January to September, the lowest months. Those are among Karachi's driest months, with about 5 mm of rain a month against 75 mm in August.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-bellied Plover sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
16th of 75
Of the 75 cities where we can rate Black-bellied Plover sightings, Karachi ranks 16th at about 10%. The best odds are in Zanzibar City (Tanzania, about 40%), Kuwait City (Kuwait, about 30%) and Maputo (Mozambique, about 20%).
Same family: Charadriidae
The closest relatives of the Black-bellied Plover that you can see in Karachi (family Charadriidae, Plovers and Lapwings) are Red-wattled Lapwing (about 40%), Kentish Plover (about 10%) and Greater Sandplover (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-bellied Plover is recorded against all the birds logged in Karachi (9 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
