Plovers are members of a widely distributed group of wading birds of family Charadriidae. The term "plover" applies to all the members of the family, though only about half of them include it in their name.

The Egyptian plover, also known as the crocodile bird, is a wader, the only member of the genus Pluvianus. Formerly placed in the pratincole and courser family, Glareolidae, it is now regarded as the sole member of its own monotypic family Pluvianidae.