Plover
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[Photo] Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) from USFWS. Publisher: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Rights: public domain

Plovers are a widely distributed group of wading birds belonging to the subfamily Charadriinae. There are about 40 species in the subfamily, most of them called "plover" or "dotterel". The closely related lapwing subfamily, Vanellinae, comprises another 20-odd species.

Plovers are found throughout the world, and are characterised by relatively short bills. They hunt by sight, rather than by feel as longer-billed waders like snipe do.

They feed mainly on insects, worms or other invertebrates, depending on habitat, which are obtained by a run-and-pause technique, rather than the steady probing of some other wader groups.

Species list
Eurasian Golden Plover, Pluvialis apricaria
Pacific Golden Plover, Pluvialis fulva
American Golden Plover, Pluvialis dominica - the American and Pacific Golden Plovers were formerly considered conspecific (as "Lesser Golden Plover"; Sangster et al., 2002)
Grey Plover or Black-bellied Plover, Pluvialis squatarola
New Zealand Dotterel or Red-breasted Plover, Charadrius obscurus
Ringed Plover, Charadrius hiaticula
Semipalmated Plover, Charadrius semipalmatus
Long-billed Plover, Charadrius placidus
Little Ringed Plover, Charadrius dubius
Wilson's Plover, Charadrius wilsonia
Killdeer, Charadrius vociferus
Piping Plover, Charadrius melodus
Black-banded Plover, Charadrius thoracicus
Kittlitz's Plover, Charadrius pecuarius
St. Helena Plover, Charadrius sanctaehelenae
Three-banded Plover, Charadrius tricollaris
Forbes' Plover, Charadrius forbesi
Kentish Plover or Snowy Plover, Charadrius alexandrinus
Javan Plover, Charadrius (alexandrinus) javanicus
White-fronted Plover, Charadrius marginatus
Red-capped Plover, Charadrius ruficapillus
Malaysian Plover, Charadrius peronii
Chestnut-banded Plover, Charadrius pallidus
Collared Plover, Charadrius collaris
Puna Plover, Charadrius alticola
Double-banded Plover, Charadrius bicinctus
Two-banded Plover, Charadrius falklandicus
Lesser Sand Plover, Charadrius mongolus
Greater Sand Plover, Charadrius leschenaultii
Caspian Plover, Charadrius asiaticus
Oriental Plover, Charadrius veredus
Eurasian Dotterel, Charadrius morinellus
Rufous-chested Dotterel, Charadrius modestus
Mountain Plover, Charadrius montanus
Hooded Plover, Charadrius rubricollis
Shore Plover, Thinornis novaeseelandiae
Black-fronted Dotterel, Elseyornis melanops
Inland Dotterel, Peltohyas australis
Wrybill, Anarhynchus frontalis
Diademed Plover, Phegornis mitchellii
Tawny-throated Dotterel, Oreopholus ruficollis

Many of the Charadrius species are characterised by breast bands or collars. These can be (in the adult) complete bands (Ringed, Semipalmated, Little Ringed, Long-billed), double or triple bands (Killdeer, Three-banded, Forbes', Two-banded, Double-banded) or partial collars (Kentish, Piping, Malaysian, Javan, Red-capped, Puna)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plover

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