Diademed Sandpiper-Plover (Phegornis mitchellii)

Identification & Behavior: ~18 cm (7 in). The Diademed Sandpiper-Plover has brown upperparts, rufous back of the neck, and black head with a white diadem. The underparts are whitish finely barred black.  The legs are yellow. The color pattern and long thin bill are unique, but juveniles may look like Puna Snipe or Andean Snipe.

Status: The Diademed Sandpiper-Plover is rare and local at some locations in the high Andes where it ranges at elevations between 4000 – 5000 m. It appears to be absent from areas with apparently suitable habitat. It also occurs in Bo and Ch.

Name in Spanish: Chorlo Cordillerano.

Sub-species: Diademed Sandpiper-Plover (Phegornis mitchellii), Fraser 1845.

Meaning of Name: Phegornis: Gr. Phengos= light, splendour, and ornis: bird. mitchellii: after David William Mitchell, English Zoologist and secretary of the Zoological Society of London.

See more of the Family Charadriidae