In Mongolia’s Altai Mountains, Greater Sand-plovers raise their chicks in scrubby desert at elevations around 8,000 feet. Finding a family of shorebirds with downy, unfledged chicks in such an arid steppe landscape was a striking surprise.
As we approached, the parents reacted instantly. The chicks darted to the roadside and tucked themselves beneath their mother, nearly invisible against the dirt track. Meanwhile, the father did what plovers do best—calling loudly and feigning a broken wing to lure us away from his vulnerable brood.
These adults had likely migrated from South Asia or Australasia, though some may have overwintered even farther away, along the coasts of Sudan or southern Africa. Wherever they came from, their non-breeding season is spent hugging coastlines, foraging on estuaries and tidal mudflats. But come spring, they launch into one of the great avian journeys: crossing deserts and mountain ranges to reach Mongolia’s arid steppes, refueling at scattered high-altitude lakes along the way.
While shorebirds are often associated with nesting on beaches, not all species follow the rulebook. Upland Sandpipers nest in grasslands and Killdeer sometimes make due with the gravel in a parking lot or on a roof. Unlike Piping Plovers, whose breeding is tightly bound to coastal beaches, Sand-plovers and many other shorebird species have adapted to raise families in unexpected places—from open grasslands to stark desert plateaus. Scientists believe these shorebird species which can survive away from coasts, have adapted to inland nesting for a variety of reasons, including fewer predators and disturbance, and less chance of nest loss from flooding. But an open area where they can make a scrape in the sand to lay their eggs, easily see predators, and proximity to some kind of water is a common thread. These well-traveled, steppe-nesting Sand-plovers are a reminder that shorebirds each have their own lifestyle and migrations. Some might be a little more extreme and unconventional than others, but that’s what makes them interesting!