Relationships between chick vocalizations and parental absence in Kentish Plovers

Chick calls within bird species vary greatly, often in relation to whether parents are present. We studied chick calls in a nidifugous shorebird, the Kentish Plover Anarhynchus alexandrinus , in three circumstances—(1) on the nest with parental presence; (2) on the nest with parental absence; and (3) out‐of‐nest with human observer presence—and categorized their calls into five types. Call types V2 and Z occurred more during parental absence, whereas call type Z predominated out‐of‐nest when chicks were exposed to a human observer, with different call qualities among the circumstances. Our findings demonstrate a posteriori that Kentish Plover chicks modify both call types and qualities according to their situations, and further provide foundational knowledge on parent–offspring vocal communications in Charadriiformes.