Visual Traits:
The Egyptian plover is a striking and unmistakable species. The 19–21 cm long adult has a black crown, back, eye-mask and breast band. The rest of the head is white. The remaining upperpart plumage is blue-grey, and the underparts are orange. The longish legs are blue-grey.
In flight, it is even more spectacular, with the black crown and back contrasting with the grey of the upperparts and wings. The flight feathers are brilliant white crossed by a black bar. From below, the flying bird is entirely white, apart from the orange belly and black wing bar.
Location and Ecosystem:
The Egyptian plover is a localised resident in tropical sub-Saharan Africa. It breeds on sandbars in very large rivers.The Egyptian plover (Pluvianus aegyptius), also known as the crocodile bird, is a wader, the only member of the genus Pluvianus. Formerly placed in the pratincole and courser family, Glareolidae, it is now regarded as the sole member of its own monotypic family Pluvianidae.
The species is one of several plovers doubtfully associated with the “trochilus” bird mentioned in a supposed cleaning symbiosis with the Nile crocodile.
Behavioral Traits:
After landing, members of a pair greet each other by raising their wings in an elaborate ceremony that shows off the black and white markings. This usually very tame bird is found in pairs or small groups near water. It feeds by pecking for insects.
Breeding:
Its two or three eggs are not incubated, but are buried in warm sand, temperature control is achieved by the adult sitting on the eggs with a water-soaked belly to cool them. If the adult leaves the nest, it smooths sand over the eggs, though if it is frightened the job may be hasty. The chicks are precocial and can run as soon as they are hatched and feed themselves shortly afterward. The adults cool the chicks in the same way as with the eggs. The chicks may drink water from the adult’s belly feathers. The adults bury the chicks in the sand temporarily if danger threatens.
DIET:
Paradise Earth Dried Insect Blend.