Lesser Sand Plover - proposed split

[paradoxdinokipi]

The bird in the front shouId be the Tibetan pretty sure, both of Siberian&Tibetan are smaIIer than Greater with shorter biIIs it seems, so every bird in that image except the smaIIer one shouId be Greater (pretty sure). I beIieve? this image: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/616355692, shows both, with the Tibetan on the Ieft and Siberian on the right? (Just basing off the comment of 'mini Greaters', and the Ieft seeming to have a Ionger biII than the right but I'm stiII not too sure)

[Michael Szabo]

The Lesser Sand Plover split: a review of the supporting literature and identification of the resulting species.

The IOC has recently accepted the proposed split of Lesser Sand Plover (Charadrius mongolus) into Siberian Sand Plover (C. mongolus) and Tibetan Sand Plover (C. atrifrons). Sand Plovers have always been notoriously hard to identify, and another species added to the mix is bound to cause some headaches. This proposed split, however, is not without reason: Wei and colleagues (2022) have found that the Siberian population of Lesser Sand Plover is actually closer related to Greater Sand Plover (C. leschenaultii) than it is to the Tibetan population. This finding came as a surprise, considering the morphological similarities between the two populations, which both seemed to have more in common with one another than with Greater Sand Plover.

Link to full article: https://nicksbird.blog/2023/04/10/the-l ... rgGPkOurHW

[Steve Wood]

HI Ben,

For me the difference on face value must surely be the leg length (appears pretty much the same as Greater sp in length).
Otherwise it looks frustrating close to a Siberian, but with longer legs?
Breeding plumage bird would be more helpful.