Scientific name: Charadrius marginatus
The white-fronted plover two sexes differ slightly in plumage coloration. Adult male plovers show a white forecrown and supercilium, with a dark band crossing the mid crown, with the rest of the crown a sandy grey colour. The face is mainly white, with a blackish brown stripe running from behind the eye to the ear coverts. The mantle, back, and rump is light greyish brown, with pale brown to grey fringing feathers. The upper covert and central feathers of the tail are black, and the lateral feathers are white. Primaries and secondaries are dark brown with with white shafts, bases, and inner webs. White-fronted plovers also have a pale dusky-brown lateral patch on the upper breast, and white underparts, occasionally with a washed chestnut lower breast and upper belly. The eyes are brown, the bill is black, and the legs are pale grey, green-grey, or pale green/olive. Adult females have a similar appearance to adult males, however the black crown band is less defined and not as thick, and may even be absent in some cases.
In southern Africa it is one of the most common birds along the coastline. It generally prefers sandy shores, coastal shores, estuaries and the sandy margins of rivers and lakes, while inland it favours wetlands with extensive mudflats and saline pans.
It mainly eats insects and aquatic invertebrates, foraging by day and night using the typical technique of plovers, running, stopping then searching for prey to pluck from the ground, then repeating the process. It also stands while trembling its feet in the substratum, which disturbs invertebrates for it to catch.
