Charadrius hiaticula
Silhouette: Alexandre Vong · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The common ringed plover, great ringed plover or ringed plover (Charadrius hiaticula) is a species of bird in the family Charadriidae. It breeds across much of northern Eurasia, as well as Greenland. The common ringed plover was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the current binomial name Charadrius hiaticula. Linnaeus specified the type locality as "Europa & America" but this is now restricted to Sweden. The specific epithet hiaticula is late Medieval Latin for a plover.
Three subspecies are recognised: Lawrence Island (north Bering Sea; erratic... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Kuwait City | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | |
| 3 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 4 | Manama | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | |
| 5 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 6 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 7 | Casablanca | 🇲🇦 Morocco | |
| 8 | Maputo | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 9 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 10 | Jeddah | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dresden Zoo | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 2 | Slimbridge Wetland Centre | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Wildpark Schwarze Berge | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 4 | Cologne Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 5 | Aachener Tierpark Euregiozoo | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 6 | Cologne Zoo Aquarium | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Common Ringed Plover sighting in Nairobi National Park on a given day, based on 84 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 234th most-seen of the 371 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January–March and October–November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Ringed Plover in Nairobi National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April–September and December, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Ringed Plover sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
22nd of 44
Of the 44 parks where we can rate Common Ringed Plover sightings, Nairobi National Park ranks 22nd at under 5%. The best odds are in West Coast National Park (South Africa, about 50%), Wadden Sea National Park (Germany, about 30%) and Svalbard (Norway, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Charadriidae
The closest relatives of the Common Ringed Plover that you can see in Nairobi National Park (family Charadriidae, Plovers and Lapwings) are Blacksmith Lapwing (about 60%), Spur-winged Lapwing (about 60%) and Crowned Lapwing (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Ringed Plover is recorded against all the birds logged in Nairobi National Park (84 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.
