Pluvialis squatarola
Silhouette: Emily Willoughby · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
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 |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black-bellied Plover sighting in De Hoop Nature Reserve on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 180th most-seen of the 189 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-bellied Plover in De Hoop Nature Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in January–March, May and July–November, the lowest months. June has too few records to rate.
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.
48th of 64
Of the 64 parks where we can rate Black-bellied Plover sightings, De Hoop Nature Reserve ranks 48th at under 5%. The best odds are in Padre Island National Seashore (United States, about 60%), West Coast National Park (South Africa, about 60%) and Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve (Mexico, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Charadriidae
The closest relatives of the Black-bellied Plover that you can see in De Hoop Nature Reserve (family Charadriidae, Plovers and Lapwings) are Crowned Lapwing (about 60%), Blacksmith Lapwing (about 20%) and Common Ringed Plover (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 De Hoop Nature Reserve (7 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
