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Kentish Plover Index Showed Clear Declines on Both Time Scales in India

Kentish plover in Bakkhali, West Bengal, India
Conservation · Population & status

The 2025 interim update from State of India’s Birds reported revised national trend estimates for the Kentish plover (Anarhynchus alexandrinus) in India. The numerical update was released on 6 May 2026 as part of the project’s updated eBird-based dataset.

The long-term numerical estimate was −68.8%, while the current annual estimate was −4.4% per year. Both updated estimates clearly supported a decline. The species page still displays the carried-over 2023 category Rapid Decline for both the long-term and current annual trends; these labels were not recalculated from the 2025 numerical estimates.

The species’ modelled distribution range in India was estimated at 687,938 km². State of India’s Birds lists the Kentish plover as a resident and winter migrant wetland specialist, non-endemic to India, identifies Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Maharashtra as key states, and retains it in the High conservation-priority category.

The interim release updated numerical range and trend estimates for 942 previously assessed bird species using approximately 48 million eBird observations through 31 May 2025. The trend values describe change in a reporting-based abundance index rather than direct counts of individual birds. The assessment categories themselves were not recalculated in this update.

Sources and image credit

  1. State of India’s Birds Partnership. (2026). State of India’s Birds: Range, trends, and conservation status – 2025 interim update (Version 2) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20036633Primary 2026 dataset release created 6 May 2026. Version 2 updated numerical distribution range size, long-term trend and current annual trend values for 942 previously evaluated species using approximately 48 million eBird observations through 31 May 2025; the assessment categories were unchanged.
  2. SoIB. (2025). State of India’s Birds factsheet: Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus (India).National page displaying the 2025 numerical update: long-term trend −68.83% (−74.59 to −61.81), current annual trend −4.44% (−5.36 to −3.53), distribution range 687,938 km² (687,362–688,514), retained categories Rapid Decline for both trends, resident and winter-migrant status, wetland specialization, non-endemicity, key states Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, and High conservation priority.

Image: Tisha Mukherjee / Wikimedia Commons — Kentish plover (Anarhynchus alexandrinus) photographed in Bakkhali, West Bengal, India, 14 February 2026; representative species image, cropped to 16:9 from the original · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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