CreatureData

Egyptian plover

Pluvianus aegyptius (Linnaeus, 1758)

LCLeast Concernbirds

The egyptian plover (Pluvianus aegyptius) is a species in the family Pluvianidae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh about 82 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Egyptian plover (Pluvianus aegyptius)
Photo: Steve Garvie from Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the egyptian plover

Weight
82 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
47 cm – 51 cmsrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
wetlandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
29.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
2.4src for Young per litter or clutch
Litters or clutches a year
1src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Partialsrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the egyptian plover?

EGYPTIAN PLOVER · WINGSPAN 51 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 51 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the egyptian plover is about 30% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the egyptian plover live?

Not recorded

What is the egyptian plover?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The Egyptian plover (Pluvianus aegyptius), also known as the crocodile bird, is a wader, the only member of the genus Pluvianus. It occurs in a band across Sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east and south to parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Despite the name, it no longer occurs in Egypt. The species was formerly placed with the pratincoles and coursers in the family, Glareolidae, but is now regarded as the sole member of its own monotypic family Pluvianidae.

The species is one of several plovers doubtfully associated with the "trochilus" bird mentioned by the Greek historian Herodotus in a supposed cleaning symbiosis with the Nile crocodile.

From the Wikipedia article “Egyptian plover” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Egyptian_plover&oldid=1380597808), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the egyptian plover endangered?

The egyptian plover is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the egyptian plover classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCharadriiformes
  5. familyPluvianidae
  6. genusPluvianus
  7. SpeciesPluvianus aegyptius (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms Charadrius aegyptius, Pluvianus aegyptius aegyptius

Other names and names in other languages (52)
  • Crocodile birdEnglish
  • Crocodile-birdEnglish
  • Crocodile-ploverEnglish
  • EGPLEnglish
  • Egyptian courserEnglish
  • قطاط مصريArabic
  • Египетска булкаBulgarian
  • plvial egipciCatalan
  • Pluvial egipciCatalan
  • kulík nilskýCzech
  • běhulík pestrýCzech
  • běhulíkovec pestrýCzech
  • rhedwr yr AifftWelsh
  • KrokodillevogterDanish
  • KrokodilwächterGerman
  • krokodilgarduloEsperanto
  • PluvialSpanish
  • Chorlito EgipcioSpanish
  • krokodillilindEstonian
  • Pluvianus aegyptiusBasque
  • krokotiilinvartijaFinnish
  • Pluvian d'EgypteFrench
  • Pluvian fluviatileFrench
  • Feadóg ÉigipteachIrish
  • תנינן מצריHebrew
  • ogrličasti kulikCroatian
  • krokodilmadárHungarian
  • krokodilusmadárHungarian
  • EyrarlápaIcelandic
  • Guardiano dei coccodrilliItalian
  • ナイルチドリJapanese
  • egiptinis bėgūnėlisLithuanian
  • krokodilputnsLatvian
  • KrokodilwachterDutch
  • Egyptische PlevierDutch
  • krokodillevokterNorwegian
  • pijawnikPolish
  • ave-do-crocodiloPortuguese
  • Крокодилов сторожRussian
  • Египетский бегунокRussian
  • KrokodilfáktaNorthern Sami
  • krokodíliar žltobruchýSlovak
  • krokodilji tekalecSlovenian
  • Egipatska trkalicaSerbian
  • krokodilväktareSwedish
  • นกหัวโตอียิปต์Thai
  • TimsahkuşuTurkish
  • лібусUkrainian
  • Бігунець єгипетськийUkrainian
  • Choi choi Ai CậpVietnamese
  • 埃及鴴Chinese
  • 蓝腿燕鸻Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the egyptian plover

Other species in the same order Charadriiformes.

LC, Least Concern
Common snipe (Gallinago gallinago)

Common snipe

Gallinago gallinago

Scolopacidae

CompareEgyptian plover vs Northern lapwingEgyptian plover vs Eurasian woodcockEgyptian plover vs Common snipeEgyptian plover vs Common redshank

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the egyptian plover?

An adult egyptian plover weighs 82 g and has a wingspan of 47 cm – 51 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the egyptian plover endangered?

The egyptian plover is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the egyptian plover?

The egyptian plover (Pluvianus aegyptius) belongs to the family Pluvianidae in the order Charadriiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Egyptian plover (Pluvianus aegyptius). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/egyptian-plover

MLA

“Egyptian plover (Pluvianus aegyptius).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/egyptian-plover.

BibTeX
@misc{egyptian_plover_2026,
  title = {Egyptian plover (Pluvianus aegyptius)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/egyptian-plover},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}