DISTRIBUTION of the whitefronted plover in Southern Africa sees it being a common resident in mainly coastal and also big rivers.
They will be found on sandy beaches where they bond in pairs, maintaining a year-round territory.
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They form flocks of up to 100 birds when not breeding. On take off and in flight, they have a gentle piping call ‘wit’ or ‘twirit’. Whitefronted plovers run very fast, sometimes slightly sideways when they forage along the waterline and away from water into dunes. They fly fast and low when disturbed, settling a little way off, then bobbing and weaving. Food source is mainly insects, also crustaceans, worms and molluscs.
Breeding takes place all months of the year. The nest is a scrape in the sand, sometimes lined with small pieces of shells, its location just above the high-water line and well up from the beach, often on the inland side of coastal dunes.
One to three pale putty-coloured eggs are laid. The incubation period is 26 to 33 days and a fledging remains for 35 to 38 days.
The tribal name is unotelela and in Afrikaans, vaalstrandkiewiet.
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