Dromas ardeola
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The crab-plover or crab plover (Dromas ardeola) is a coastal wader (shorebird). It is the only member of the genus Dromas and the family Dromadidae. It is unique among waders in making use of ground warmth to aid the incubation of its eggs. The crab-plover is classified in the suborder Lari in a group together with the Glareolidae (pratincoles and coursers), and next most closely related to the Laridae (gulls and terns), rather than to most other waders such as plovers (suborder Charadrii) and sandpipers (suborder Scolopaci).
This bird resembles a plover, but has very long bluish-grey legs and a strong heavy black bill. Its pied plumage and long-necked upright posture with heavy bill makes it distinctive and unmistakable; apart from the massive bill, the plumage pattern is most reminiscent of a pied avocet. Its bill is unique among waders, and specialised for eating crabs. It has partially webbed toes. The plumage is white except for black on its back and in the primary feathers of the wings; in breeding plumage, the head is white apart from the small black eye patch, while in non-breeding plumage, the head is streaked grey. They are noisy birds, calling frequently... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Kuwait City | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | |
| 3 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 4 | Abu Dhabi | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | |
| 5 | Kollam | 🇮🇳 India |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Crab-Plover sighting in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 306th most-seen of the 351 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.
January
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Crab-Plover in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, against under 5% in February to December, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Crab-Plover sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only iSimangaliso Wetland Park, in our data
iSimangaliso Wetland Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Crab-Plover sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Charadriiformes
The closest relatives of the Crab-Plover that you can see in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (order Charadriiformes, Shorebirds and Allies) are African Jacana (about 50%), Grey-hooded Gull (about 30%) and Caspian Tern (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Crab-Plover is recorded against all the birds logged in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (12 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.
