Dr Nial Moores, May 2026
Following the rain of May 3rd which helped produce the island’s first Asian Dowitcher 큰부리도요, the weather on May 4th seemed unremarkable, and there was little evidence of any kind of arrival on Baengnyeong Island. Together with Professor Rebecca Hartman and Birds Korean John Kitcher, we therefore decided to spend a half hour or so on the main beach looking for six Siberian Sand Plovers Anarhynchus mongolus (somewhat confusingly previously known as Lesser Sand Plover then as Mongolian Sand Plover Charadrius mongolus) which had been found by eBird’s Ian Davies the previous day.
Along the shoreline we found a few Sanderling and Red-necked Stint, and watched with joy several Kentish Plover, including a pair with young. Walking back to the seawall, RH spotted a movement next to a tidal pool below the seawall: a gorgeous Pacific Golden Plover. Although 200m away and into the light, NM decided to scope the pool, and immediately saw an odd-looking female sand plover in breeding plumage. The bill looked long, and ID as Greater Sand Plover Anarhynchus leschenaultii – a scarce, not even annual species on the island – initially seemed the most likely fit. A few seconds later, however, and a second bird moved into view. This was an adult male with what looked like a full black face-mask and a similarly long bill to the female…Tension and anticipation rose quickly: were these instead Tibetan Sand Plovers?
We moved very cautiously toward the pool, and over the next 30 minutes or so were able to watch both birds well. Both looked like “Lesser Sand Plovers”, with rounded heads, lacking the bulk and flat-crowned and flat-backed look of Greater Sand Plover. Both had long, rather thin looking bills, and fairly long, dark legs (paler legs would be expected in Greater Sand Plover). The male had a wide black forehead with two tiny grey headlights near to the eye – lacking the white forehead spots typical of Mongolian / Siberian Sand Plover. The breast band was bright orange-red, rather than dark brick-red, and these bright tones extended across the nape and onto the forehead. The upperparts on both looked rather bright too (almost sandy-brown with paler fringes) and the flanks on both lacked any sign of the brown mottling which is considered diagnostic of “Mongolian” Siberian Sand Plover.
Unlike female Siberian Sand Plovers, the female Tibetan lacked clear black on the head; and instead looked rather bright above.
Finding a single Tibetan Sand Plover in Korea would be amazing, but two together…? Stunned, I sent several texts to Ian Davies and Alli Smith, encouraging them to get to the site quickly; and also texted Birds Korea member Andy Lee, who was also on the island with several “Young Gun” birders from the university birding club.
ID and AS arrived probably within thirty minutes and took some wonderful flight shots of the male, confirming the lack of brown flank markings, and that the toes extended beyond the tail – another feature supporting ID as Tibetan Sand Plover... AL’s team arrived rather later, and unfortunately could not relocate the birds.
To dispel any incredulity over the ID as Tibetan Sand Plover, NM sent a few images to Dave Bakewell in Malaysia. DB is widely recognised as a / the leading expert on their ID; and his commentary on social media provided most of the features that I used in the field on Baengnyeong. Happily, as expected, DB confirmed that he had no doubt that both birds were indeed Tibetan Sand Plover. Stunning.
The next day, both birds were again present at the same site, this time with a Siberian Sand Plover, and were photographed again by NM, RK, ID and also by Professor Kim Young-Gul and Tony Lee. At least the male was present on May 6th too.
Tibetan Sand Plover is a recent species split that resulted from a thorough analysis by Wei, Schweizer, Tomkovich et al. (2022) which found that that the mongolus subspecies group of Lesser Sand Plover (a regular and locally numerous species during migration along the ROK coast en route to breeding grounds in NE Asia and wintering areas in SE Asia and Australia) was actually more closely related to Greater Sand Plover (scarce in Korea) than to the more western distributed atrifrons subspecies group. They therefore recommended that Lesser Sand Plover be divided into two full species: more western Tibetan Sand Plover and more eastern Siberian Sand Plover.
Based on a pre-publication text, this split of Lesser Sand Plover into two species was accepted by Birds Korea in our 2022 checklist, with inclusion of Tibetan Sand Plover on the Korean list based on a photo of a bird taken by Chai Seung-Hoon in Gunsan – apparently on May 2nd 2010. This split was also accepted by the IOC and Avilist on February 12th 2023; and by the Korean Ornithological Society in 2025, which gave Tibetan Sand Plover the Korean name of 검은이마왕눈물떼새.
The Tibetan Sand Plovers therefore become the 403rd bird species since 2013 to be recorded on Baengnyeong Island; and are perhaps only the second national record to be adequately documented with images. While undoubtedly rare in Korea, based on their known range and migratory status, it seems likely that more Korean records will follow…
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What to look for? Separation from Greater Sand Plover and Siberian Sand Plover can be made on structure at all times of the year (especially bill length, lack of bill “swelling” and leg length); and during northward migration especially, by the absence of head lights, the width of the breast band; the relative brightness of the plumage, and of course on the absence of brown markings along the flanks.
With sincere thanks to all those who kindly shared their images, allowing this record to be fully documented.