Greater sand plover
Charadrius leschenaultii R. Lesson, 1826
The greater sand plover (Charadrius leschenaultii) is a small bird in the family Charadriidae, order Charadriiformes. It has an adult body mass of 74.8 g, up to 90.4 g, and a wingspan from 44 to 60 cm, with a representative value of 52 cm.
Quick facts about the greater sand plover
This migratory, terrestrial carnivore is classed as an aquatic predator and lives in grassland habitat. It lays a clutch of 3 eggs once a year, incubated for 24 days, and is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
- Weight
- 74.8 g – 90.4 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 44 cm – 60 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- grasslandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 24 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 23.9 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Migratorysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
How big is the greater sand plover?
Photos of the greater sand plover
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the greater sand plover live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The greater sand plover is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the greater sand plover?
The greater sand plover (Anarhynchus leschenaultii) is a small wader in the plover family of birds. The spelling is often given as "greater sandplover" or "greater sand-plover", but the official IOC and British Ornithologists' Union spelling is "Greater Sand Plover". The specific leschenaultii commemorates the French botanist Jean Baptiste Leschenault de la Tour. Like most other species in the genus Anarhynchus, it was until recently included in the genus Charadrius.
From the Wikipedia article “Greater sand plover” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Greater_sand_plover&oldid=1379926146), 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 greater sand plover endangered?
The greater sand plover is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- 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 greater sand plover classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCharadriiformes
- familyCharadriidae
- genusCharadrius
- SpeciesCharadrius leschenaultii R. Lesson, 1826
Synonyms Aegialitis gigas, Anarhynchus leschenaultii, Charadrius geoffroyi, Pagoa leschenaultii, Pagoa zanda
Other names and names in other languages (51)
- Great sand-ploverEnglish
- Greater sand-ploverEnglish
- Large sand dotterelEnglish
- GrootstrandkiewietAfrikaans
- زقزاق الرمل الكبيرArabic
- Nouelig an dezerzhBreton
- corriol de LeschnaultCatalan
- kulík většíCzech
- cwtiad tywod mawrWelsh
- cwtiad y tywod mwyafWelsh
- Cwtiaid y Tywod MwyafWelsh
- ørkenpræstekraveDanish
- WüstenregenpfeiferGerman
- ΕρημοσφυριχτήςGreek
- Μεγάλος ΕρημοσφυριχτήςGreek
- Chorlitejo mongol grandeSpanish
- kõrbetüllEstonian
- aavikkotylliFinnish
- Pluvier du désertFrench
- gravelot de leschenaultFrench
- Pluvier de LeschenaultFrench
- feadóg ghainimh mhórIrish
- Feddag gheinnee vooarManx
- חופמי חוףHebrew
- pustinjski kulikCroatian
- sivatagi lileHungarian
- Cerek-pasir besarIndonesian
- AuðnalóaIcelandic
- Corriere di LeschenaultItalian
- オオメダイチドリJapanese
- didžiasnapis kirlikasLithuanian
- tuksneša tārtiņšLatvian
- FandiafasikabeMalagasy
- woestijnplevierDutch
- ørkenloNorwegian Nynorsk
- sieweczka pustynnaPolish
- borrelho-do-desertoPortuguese
- borrelho-grande-de-colar-ruivoPortuguese
- Толстоклювый зуёкRussian
- sáttobuvvedatNorthern Sami
- kulík veľkozobýSlovak
- debelokljuni deževnikSlovenian
- ökenpipareSwedish
- นกหัวโตทรายใหญ่Thai
- buyuk cilibitTurkish
- büyük cılıbıtTurkish
- col yagmurkusuTurkish
- çöl yağmurkuşuTurkish
- Зуйок монгольськийUkrainian
- Пісочник товстодзьобийUkrainian
- 铁嘴沙鸻Chinese
Relatives of the greater sand plover
Other species in the same genus Charadrius.
Little ringed plover
Charadrius dubius
Common ringed plover
Charadrius hiaticula
Kentish plover
Charadrius alexandrinus
Eurasian dotterel
Charadrius morinellus
Siberian sand plover
Charadrius mongolus
Killdeer
Charadrius vociferus
CompareGreater sand plover vs Little ringed ploverGreater sand plover vs Common ringed ploverGreater sand plover vs Kentish ploverGreater sand plover vs Eurasian dotterel
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the greater sand plover?
The greater sand plover is a bird in the family Charadriidae, order Charadriiformes. It is a migratory species.
How big is the greater sand plover?
It is a small bird with an adult body mass of 74.8 g, up to 90.4 g. Its wingspan ranges from 44 to 60 cm.
What does the greater sand plover eat?
It is a carnivore in the aquatic predator diet category.
Is the greater sand plover endangered?
No. It is listed as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How many eggs does the greater sand plover lay?
It lays 3 eggs per clutch, with 1 clutch per year, and the eggs are incubated for 24 days.
Which countries is the greater sand plover recorded in?
Checklists record it in Australia.
Who named the greater sand plover?
Charadrius leschenaultii was named by R. Lesson, 1826.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Greater sand plover (Charadrius leschenaultii). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/greater-sand-plover
“Greater sand plover (Charadrius leschenaultii).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/greater-sand-plover.
@misc{greater_sand_plover_2026,
title = {Greater sand plover (Charadrius leschenaultii)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/greater-sand-plover},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}