Common Ringed Plover

On the Eurasian continent, with the exception of the Far Eastern Long-billed Plover (Gravelot), there are two closely related and easily confused species, the Common Ringed Plover (or Great Gravelot) and the Little Ringed Plover (or Little Gravelot), especially outside the breeding season.
The adult breeding Common Ringed Plover can be recognized by its larger size (in direct comparison), its dark eye hardly visible on a black background, the larger white forehead patch and the bright orange beak (with a black tip) and legs. The female can be distinguished from the male by the ear coverts and chest band covered with brown. The non-breeding plumage resembles that of the breeding one, but it is less uniform above, the black is replaced by dark brown and finally the beak and legs are more dull. It can sometimes happen that the eye appears with a very light orange orbital ring reminiscent of the Semipalmated Plover, but this ring is very different from the bright yellow ring of the Little Ringed Plover.
The juvenile is brownish above with the scales edged in beige to give a scaly appearance. The head resembles that of the wintering adult, but with a junction between the forehead and the eyebrow of a less pure whiteness and a completely black beak. Beware, the beak of a Common Ringed Plover feeding may be completely covered with mud and thus look dark. In the young Little Ringed Plover, the head is much more uniform with a pale line barely marked above the eye and especially with the diagnostic yellow orbital ring.
Finally, in all plumages, the bird in flight shows a clear white wing bar along the length of the wing at the base of the remiges. The Little Ringed Plover does not have one.
Two subspecies exist that differ only in minor details.