The Tibetan sand plover (Anarhynchus atrifrons) is a small wader in the plover family of birds, breeds in Pamir Mountains, Tian Shan, Tibetan Plateau and south Mongolia, winters in east and south Africa, south, east and southeast Asia.
It was previously considered conspecific with the Siberian (lesser) sand plover, and includes three subspecies: A. a. atrifrons, breeds in Tibet, A. a. pamirensis breeds in Pamir Mountains, and A. a. schaeferi, breeds in Qinghai.
A study published in 2022 proposed that the "mongolus" group of lesser sand plover is the sister group of greater sand plover, and "atrifrons" group is the sister group of them also. So a taxonomic split of lesser sand plover was needed. The authors suggested new scientific and common English name for them:
Siberian sand plover (Anarhynchus mongolus), A. m. mongolus and A. m. stegmanni;
Tibetan sand plover (Anarhynchus atrifrons), A. a. atrifrons, A. a. pamirensis and A. a. schaeferi;
Desert sand plover (Anarhynchus leschenaultii), currently greater sand plover.
The International Ornithologists' Union accepted the split and renaming of the lesser sand plover in 2023, erecting the Tibetan sand plover as a full species.
Tibetan Sand Plover is a very rare vagrant to the UK.
Formerly a subspecies of ‘Lesser Sand Plover’, this taxon was only recognised as a full species following genetic analysis in 2022. At the time of the review there were six previous UK records of ‘Lesser Sand Plover’, of which just two were of the form now recognised as Tibetan Sand Plover.
Tibetan Sand Plover breeds in mountains and plateaus of Asia and winters widely around the coasts of Asia, the Middle East and south and east Africa.
This species and Siberian Sand Plover were formerly lumped under the name of Lesser Sand Plover (sometimes instead named Mongolian (Sand) Plover).
Subspecies
Clements recognizes these subspecies[1]:
A. a. pamirensis: Pamirs to western China (western Xinjiang); winters to Africa and western India
A. a. atrifrons Himalayas and southern Tibet: winters from India to Sumatra
A. a. schaeferi: Eastern Tibet to southern Mongolia; winters Thailand to Greater Sundas
Breeds at high elevation, above the tree line, usually in dry areas that are near temporary water sources. During migration and winter, their habitat is similar to what would be expected for other plovers.
Strongly migratory; however, birds in their second calendar year may stay in the wintering grounds.
