The steppe tourist: the carambolo plover

For the public that is less involved in the world of ornithology, perhaps the Carambolo plover (Charadrius morinellus) is alien to them and even thinks of an origin beyond the Spanish borders. But, nothing could be further from the truth. At least in their usual areas of passage in Iberian territory, their small size and cryptic plumage make them famous as a “star bird” for the Castilian-Manchego bird, although the reasons may be numerous. Perhaps the reward for his observation comes from the peculiar reproductive strategies in breeding areas, where sexual roles are interchanged: the male is the one who incubates and is responsible for raising the chickens; the female, with more colorful colors, defends the territory and invests efforts to reproduce with more males. Even the fascination can come from their frenetic and long migratory journeys, and their short stay in our fields. Or maybe its peculiar beauty is enough to enchant and surprise the naturalist. Although, after all, and as Dubois and Rousseau argued in their book “The Little Philosophy of the Birds”:

Birds, discreet teachers of life, in their spontaneity and their lightness, have a lot to tell us, as long as we listen to them.

Perhaps the mere observation is what makes this bird magical, as long as the observer is willing to dedicate some time to it.

The Carambolo plover is a small wader, similar to a starling, with a very short and dark beak. The legs are long and have a greenish yellowish color. In all its plumage, it has obvious white eyebrows attached to the nape of the neck and a narrow pale semicircular band on the chest. As we mentioned above, it has an inverted sexual dimorphism, with the female in bridal plumage more showy than the male. The juvenile is similar to the non-breeding adult, but with the feathers on the upper parts with pale ridges. In the field, the white eyebrow together with the small size and the chest band are useful characters for identification (SEO Birdlife; Cañizares Mata, 2018).

To put us in a situation, the carambolo plover is a Eurosiberian bird, with its breeding areas distributed in a fragmented way, with a large part of the breeding population established in the Eurasian tundra and with small cores in northern Kazakhstan and China, southern Siberia, northern Mongolia and southeastern Russia. However, its wintering quarters are located in North Africa and the Middle East, from the Maghreb to Iran (SEO Birdlife). Based on these breeding and wintering grounds, they establish several migratory routes that cross different countries (and even large bodies of water, such as the Mediterranean Sea or the Adriatic Sea), some of them running through the Iberian Peninsula.

For this reason, the Iberian Peninsula is, due to its geographical location, a key space on the migratory route of the Carambolo plover. Thus, saving certain areas in the Catalan Pyrenees where it has reproduced occasionally (Gutiérrez et al., 1996) and other areas where birds have been established to winter for some years (Cañizares Mata, 2018; Whitfield et al., 1996), the visit of this species in our territory is relegated to migration periods (autumn and spring) (Whitfield et al., 1996). These periods of migration are referred to as “prenuptial passage” (before reproduction) to refer to the passage of spring; and “postnuptial passage” (after reproduction) in the case of autumn migration. During this migration, it settles in different places throughout the territory to feed itself, accumulating reserves in order to start its journey again. These places where it is established are varied, occupying both inland and coastal areas and mountain areas, frequent cultivated cultivated habitats and steppe environments (Cañizares Mata, 2018).

For this species, and now limiting the community of Castilla La Mancha, the number of appointments is higher in the postnuptial phase, with the peak of specimens between the end of August and the end of October. The spring season is less intense, with appointments between late March and early May (eBird). In Albacete, the periods of stay seem to get longer during the fall (Cañizares Mata, 2018).

And it is in these brief and fleeting visits that another of the species' ecological peculiarities is found: their fidelity to their places of passage, that is, they show a certain reluctance to appear in the same fields year after year. In the province of Albacete, despite being a scarce migrant, four important centers have been located, with great fidelity; and with observations of flocks of more than 100 birds. Their habitat preferences here are associated with plots of more than 50 ha, with little or no vegetation. In addition, flocks are usually composed mostly of adult birds (Cañizares Mata, 2018).

For this reason, Castilla La Mancha, and especially the province of Albacete, contains ornithological recreational sites for amateur birders. Above all, because of one of the most desired birds in migratory passages, the carambolo plover. Because personal attraction to a certain species can be accompanied by attraction to other species, and I quote here the famous myrmecologist and naturalist E.O Wilson: “You've seen one bird, you haven't seen them all”. Nature always has the power to fascinate and teach human beings, and one of the ways is to do so through the wonderful world of birdlife.

Bibliography

Cañizares Mata, D. & Cañizares Mata, J.A. 2018. Monitoring the migration of the carambolo plover (Charadrius morinellus) in the Llanos de Riachuelos and Los Clérigos (Albacete). III Conference on the Natural Environment of Albacete, Sabuco.

D. Philip Whitfield, Keith Duncan, Dave Pullan & Rik D. Smith (1996) Recoveries of Scottish‐ringed Dotterel Charadriusmorinellus in the non‐breeding season: Evidence for seasonal shifts in wintering distribution, Ringing & Migration, 17:2, 105-110, DOI: 10.1080/03078698.1996.9674125

Gutierrez, R., Carulla, A., Parellada, X., García-Ferré, D., Santaeufemia, F.X., Figuerola, J., Muntané, O. & Cerdà, F. 1996. The breeding population of Eurasian Dotterel Charadrius morinellus in Spain. Wader Study Group Bull. 80:47-49.

Pulliainen, E. & Saari, L. 1993. Ring recoveries of Finnish Dotterels Charadrius morinellus. Wader Study Group Bull. 67:54-56.

Tomas Aarvak, Sami Timonen, Dag Gjerstad, Roni Väisänen and Esko Pasanen. 2019. Light-logger mapping of migratory connectivity of Dotterels breeding in Alpine Fennoscandia. Poster.

Noé Cuesta, Biodiversity