The Kentish Plover, Charadrius alexandrinus, is a small wader in the plover bird family. Despite its name, this species no longer breeds in Kent, or even Great Britain. This beautiful specimen in breeding plumage was found in the wading ground of Wena Lake about 15km from Nagpur.
Although these may be native to India, they are documented as seen around these parts only during the winter. For Nagpur these birds are widely believed to be passage migrants. However we have records of sighting these birds in April and May, we have also recorded mating, nest and chicks of Kentish Plover in and around Nagpur, so it looks like while the native breeding grounds are being given up they are moving to newer areas for breeding.
This species is categorized as ‘Least Concern’ in the IUCN red list, however, their numbers are dropping rapidly due to human development activity disturbing their feeding & breeding grounds.
The Kentish Plover is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.