BREAKING NEWS! The Red-capped Plover is the first Australian to win an Olympic medal in Artistic Gymnastics and it’s GOLD🥇Rodent-runs for the win! Silver🥈shared between White-fronted Plover & Kentish Plover. Well done all!
#PloverOlympics #PloverAppreciationDay #PAD2021
The audience has voted! Gold in Wrestling to the Piping Plover - the lightest Olympic wrestler in history!🥇🏆🤼♀️ Congratulations!
#PloverOlympics #PloverAppreciationDay #PAD2021
Beam, beam BEAM! Or triple jump?
This is fun! Check out @ontarioplovers and guess what #PloverOlympics sports their birds are competing in!
#PloverAppreciationDay
And South Africa is in for the #PloverOlympics! Which one is your favourite? Hard decision but we go with the salt pan utiliser, sweet little guy Chestnut-banded Plover! Thanks for sharing those @adisasterpiece
#PloverAppreciationDay
This has to be a landing after a perfect vault routine! 🥇🥇🏆🏆
#PloverOlympics #PloverAppreciationDay
We think we have a gold medal in high jump 🥇
#PloverAppreciationDay #PloverOlympics
What did you get?
#PloverOlympics #PloverAppreciationDay
This has been an absolute blast! THANK YOU! Australia is going to bed with brilliant performances on the #PloverOlympics & #PloverAppreciationDay plus an amazing audience!
But Plover Appreciation Day is only starting in some parts of the world, so keep the conversation going!
We think the Freestyle Wrestling gold medal should be shared, but who do you think would win?
#PloverAppreciationDay #PloverOlympics
@BirdlifeOz @ontarioplovers @NycPlover
Our friends from the New World, the Piping Plovers are stocky and brave! During incubation, the bird who's off the nest will scare off big guys like Ring-billed Gulls. But wrestling moves are more common when chicks are young
#PloverAppreciationDay #PloverOlympics
Our most threatened #beachnestingbird, the Hooded Plover, is a master of Freestyle Wrestling! They will take on their feathered friends when it comes to protecting their real estate and their family! A battle to death in some rare cases!
#PloverAppreciationDay #PloverOlympics
If you're like us, you'll have plenty of love to give to plovers and also other #shorebirds! Then don't miss the article from our @waderquest friends featuring some Wader Olympics!
#PloverAppreciationDay #PloverOlympics
Who should get the gold in Artistic Gymnastics, floor event?
#PloverAppreciationDay #PloverOlympics
Kentish Plover - the living example displays work!
This plover has a large distribution in north Africa, Asia and Europe. Research has shown that parents with riskier display behaviours have nests that survive longer!
#PloverAppreciationDay #PloverOlympics
The White-fronted Plover is an avid displayer of the coastline and river shores of sub-saharan Africa & Madagascar. They partially cover their eggs with sand, possibly for camouflage when they leave the nest and temperature regulation.
#PloverAppreciationDay #PloverOlympics
Australia’s tiniest and most widespread resident plover, the Red-capped Plover, is an expert at distracting predators with a very convincing rodent-run display. Also, male usually incubates at night and female during the day - guess why!
#PloverAppreciationDay #PloverOlympics
This is what distraction displays look like. If you ever see a plover displaying it is because you’re too close to a nest or chicks! Move away from the bird but watching your step as you don’t want to crush those eggs or chicks!
#PloverAppreciationDay #PloverOlympics
Up next-Artistic Gymnastics, floor!
Plovers have tactical floor routines (aka distraction displays) to pretend being an easy meal to fool predators & keep them away from their nests and chicks! Some favs broken-wing and rodent-run displays!
#PloverAppreciationDay #PloverOlympics
We’re getting to the end of #PloverAppreciationDay, but no need to say goodbye to our #Ploverolympics! You can keep appreciating plovers by registering to our online webinars which start tomorrow! Head to for more info and registration links!
Mountain Plovers actually live on level land. They nests across the western Great Plains & winter in dry grasslands and deserts of Mexico and California. ♀️ splits clutch in two, 3 eggs for him, 3 eggs for her!
#PloverAppreciationDay #PloverOlympics
Meet 2 very special #PloverOlympics athletes!
One of the world’s rarest #shorebirds, the Shore Plover is found only in New Zealand and there are <200 birds left. ♂️ use their wings during the breeding season by performing butterfly-like flight displays!
#PloverAppreciationDay
The smaller plover species are more likely to protect their nests and chicks with passive strategies, whereas the larger, like lapwings, will stay and defend. But really, who can blame them for wanting to protect their family?
#PloverAppreciationDay #PloverOlympics
Meet Larry, who takes the gold in the Swooping Dive!
Larry is a Masked Lapwing (aka Spur-winged Lapwing). Yes! Larry is a plover and deserves to be appreciated! That's why our manager @GrainneMaguire7 honoured Larry with this great comic.
#PloverAppreciationDay #PloverOlympics
Vote for your Migratory Marathon winner! #PloverOlympics #PloverAppreciationDay #PAD2021
The Grey Plover (aka Black-bellied Plover) breeds in high Arctic zones around the world and their wintering grounds are also spread worldwide! Trackers fitted by @vwsg_web revealed that birds from South Australia bred in Wrangle Island!
#PloverAppreciationDay #PloverOlympics
Pacific Golden Plovers breed all the way up in the Arctic tundra of western Alaska & Siberia and may spend the winter in many parts of Asia, Australia or various Pacific islands. They often cover ~3,000 km in a single nonstop flight!
#PloverAppreciationDay #PloverOlympics
The American Golden Plover wins! They breed on the tundra of North America and overwinter on the pampas of Argentina and Uruguay. Some birds take a long circular route, travelling up to ~30,000 km every year!
#PloverAppreciationDay #PloverOlympics
And #PloverOlympics is ON! Some plovers travel thousands of km each year, between their breeding and non-breeding grounds. Habitat loss and degradation in their stopover sites are key threats for these species. Who would win the Migratory Marathon?
#PloverAppreciationDay
And you can help plovers too by raising awareness and joining #PloverAppreciationDay and #PloverOlympics today!
Will we be able to collect Olympic profile from all 68 species? Here are some by #PloverLovers from around the world to inspire you! Template 👉
Good morning! It’s Plover Appreciation Day!
September 16 is a day to appreciate all things plover & raise awareness of the plight of this amazing group of birds. Stay with us today and join the conversation using the hashtags #PloverAppreciationDay and #PloverOlympics!
