The Ringed Plover has special colours. 
The upperparts are brown, the underparts are white but there is a neat black breast band and black marks on his face. The legs are orange in colour. His beak is also orange with a black spot on the tip.

They are found all over Ireland and they are winter visitors. They breed mainly in arctic Canada, Greenland, and Iceland in Northern Europe and much of Africa. 
In Ireland they nest mainly on the coast, and many stay here for the winter and some also breed here in springtime.Like most plovers you will see them running/stopping /running, as they hunt along the ground for food.

You will find plovers along the seashore and beaches, mudflats and sandy inland lakes.

Like all mothers, the female protects her young.

The female is famous for pretending to be hurt if an enemy comes near her nest. She pretends to have an injured wing to draw the enemy away from her nest, where her young chicks are nesting.I saw this once on a nature video in school. I would love to see this sometime for real. It would look very funny.

Who said birds don't have brains? This is a very good trick.

The stamp was issued in Phase 3 on April 2nd. 1998.

Written by--:  Matthew Higgins

         Click on the stamp to hear the sound of the bird