Crab-plover

Dromas ardeola Paykull, 1805

Crab-plover, Dromas ardeola, is a coastal wader found on sandy coasts and islands in Africa and the Indian Ocean, breeding around the Red Sea, the Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf, and ranging more widely outside the breeding season to coasts from south-western Africa to Mozambique and KwaZulu-Natal, as well as Madagascar, the Seychelles, Chagos, the Maldives, India, Sri Lanka and the Andaman Islands. It is the only species in its family. It stands out among waders for using ground warmth to help incubate its eggs, and it nests in burrows in sandy banks.

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Dromadidae — Crab-plover

Breeding range

Africa, Indian Ocean: sandy coasts and islands of Red Sea, Arabian Pen. and Persian Gulf (nw Indian Ocean)

Nonbreeding range

e AF, India : tropical to subtropical Indian Ocean coasts: sw Indian Ocean coast to Mozambique and KwaZulu Natal, Malagasy region including coralline atolls of s, c Seychelles, Chagos Arch., Maldives (wc Indian Ocean), w coast of India, Sri Lanka and Andaman Is.