Crab Plover

The Crab Plover with the scientific name of Dromas ardeola

is one of the birds in Indian which is closely related to the waders.

The quick classification of this Crab Plover is given below,

Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Aves
Order	Charadriiformes
Family	Dromadidae
Genus	Dromas
Species	Dromas ardeola

Physical Characteristics:

These birds are one of the larger and heavier birds in India. The height of this crab plover ranges from 13 to 16 in (33 to 41 cm). The weight of this species is 8 to 11.2 ounces (230 to 325 g). Most of these birds are in white or black colour and they have a black patch on their back and their wings. They have long and pointed wings. The wing span of this Crab plover is in the range of 29 to 30.7 in (74 to 78 cm). They have short tails, strong bills and long legs. This crab plover legs is in blue gray colour. It also has a webbed feet and a strong toe.


They use their strong toe for the purpose of digging nest burrows. They use their bills for eating crabs. Adult crab plover's plumage is in white colour. As well the young ones plumage is in grey colour. Generally, both male and female crab plovers are in same size and similar in their appearance. But when compared to female crab plover, the male crab plover is larger in size and has heavier bills.

Young crab plovers are slightly different in colour than the adults. These young birds are in grey colour on the top and behind their neck and wings.

These species have a characteristic behavior. These birds rest on flat tarsi which means they used to sit on the ground. The feeding behavior of this crab plover is described as "run – stop – run – dip – action". Most of these species feed on mudflats or shallow water. These birds are very active at night or at dusk.

The crab plover call is noticed as a barking repeated sound of "ka – how, ka – how ." During the breeding time and on breeding grounds they produce a sharp and whistling sound of "kew – ki – ki" or "ki – twek". These birds are very noisy in nature.

Generally, they frequently produce their calls on wintering areas or on their breeding areas. During their flight times, their legs are projected beyond their tail.

Habitat:

The main habitat for this species is coastal areas. These species are sometimes found in the desert and semi desert habitats as well. These birds are inhabitants in muddy and sandy shores on islands, mudflats, lagoons, estuaries and intertidal sand flats, coral reefs.

Migration:

This crab plover is one of the migratory birds in India. Many individuals belonging to these species migrate towards south side during the period of August to November and migrate towards the north side during the period of March to April. These species are found to breed from Somalia to Iran. During the winter season, they migrate to the East African Coast, Indian Ocean Islands or the Indian Peninsula.

Food Habits:

These species are called as specialized feeders. Which means, their diet include only a few items. The major food for these species is Crabs and hence their name. This bird hunts its prey by chasing and running after the prey in the shallow water or in mud flats and then by using their powerful and sharp bills they will stab their prey.

These species also prefer fish, squids and crustacean as their food.

Both adult and young birds will take crab as their food.

Some time it may take marine worms, see cucumbers and other invertebrates found in the shallow waters.

Places Found:

These species are one of the birds which are commonly found in the Indian subcontinent. Especially, they are found along the coastal areas of the Indian Ocean. We can find large flocks of this crab plovers in and around the Jamnagar district. Especially, these species are commonly found in the islands like Pirotan Island and Narara Island. These species are also found in the African country of Madagascar. These species are found to breed on Persian Gulf, N.W. Indian ocean, Somalia and the Red Sea.

Non breeding crab plovers are found in Kenya, W India, N Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. We can see this crab plover in the following bird sanctuaries in India.

1. Marine wild life sanctuary in Jamnagar District, Gujarat.
2. Gir National Park in Jamnagar District, Gujarat.

Mating and Nesting:

These species start breeding activities at their first year itself. Breeding season for this crab plover is between April to August. These species breed every year. The breeding interval for these species is one year. This crab plovers build their nest by burrowing the ground at a depth of 1.5 to 2 meter for protecting their eggs from the extreme temperature during their breeding season.

The burrow entrance is initially angled downwards. This species is the only bird which belongs to the wader category which is used to building the nest in this fashion. Another purpose of building the nest in this fashion is, this nest chamber also acts as a solar incubator which keeps the crab plover eggs at an optimum and moderate temperature. The incubation period of this crab plover is 32 to 33 days. They can lay one or two eggs at a time.

Once the chick hatches successfully, then it can be able to walk immediately.

Chicks are in plain grey colour. Crab plover chicks have some colour deviations than their parents. The young ones are fed by both parents.

These young birds have a long period of parental care after they hatch from the egg. After the end of the breeding season, some of the crab plovers will stay in their breeding colony itself and some of the crab plovers will move towards south side or east side to the wintering areas around the Indian Ocean.

Threats and conservation:

This Crab plover belongs to the category as Least Concern that is not threatened by the IUCN. Some surveys have reported that there are more than 50,000 individuals are found around the world. But in some locations these species are threatened by pollution, habitat destruction, oil production activity, localization of nest predators and other factors which need to be controlled.

Interesting facts about Crab Plover

1. This is the only species of crab plover which is found in India.
2. Crab plover is the only species which belongs to the dramadidae Family.
3. In the past,crab plover and their eggs were eaten by humans.
4. These species is one of the noisy and gregarious birds in the world.