Long-billed Plover

The long-billed plover is a medium-sized wader, 19 to 20cm long, with a grey-brown back, white throat and belly, a white forehead with a black band, a black breast band and a yellow eye-ring. It prefers gravel and pebble shores of rivers, streams and lakes, avoiding sandy beaches, mudflats and shores with large boulders, and feeds on aquatic insects, larvae and other invertebrates along the shoreline (Wikipedia, general species account).

In the Himalayan region it breeds in parts of north-east India, western Arunachal Pradesh, and in winter moves south to eastern Nepal and north-east India, extending to Indochina. Pairs are mostly monogamous, laying typically four eggs about every 48 hours; both parents incubate for about 29 days and the young fly at about 40 days. It is highly vocal in the breeding season, with territorial birds puffing their chests, jumping and pecking at intruders (Wikipedia, general species account).