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Crab plover
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Illustration of a crab plover (Dromas ardeola), showing a slender wading bird with long legs, a long pointed black bill, white head and underparts, and contrasting black wings and back. Variations in the bills of shorebirds (order Charadriiformes).
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Illustration of a crab plover (Dromas ardeola), showing a slender wading bird with long legs, a long pointed black bill, white head and underparts, and contrasting black wings and back.
crab plover Crab plover (Dromas ardeola)

Crab plover

bird
Also known as: Dromas ardeola
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Crab plover, (species Dromas ardeola), long-legged, black and white bird of Indian Ocean coasts, related to plovers and allied species of shorebirds. It comprises the family Dromadidae (order Charadriiformes). Crab plovers are tame, noisy birds about 40 cm (16 inches) long. They flock on beaches and reefs, where they hunt mollusks and crabs, which they then break up by pounding them with their heavy bills. They have a hunched posture on land. Crab plovers dig burrows about 1.5 m (5 feet) deep in sandbanks and lay a single large white egg.