<p>Shorebirds experience high rates of nest predation due to their ground-nesting, leading to diverse antipredator behaviors to mitigate this risk. Accurate predator recognition enables birds to adjust their responses, employ effective nest defense strategies, and conserve time and energy. In this study, we selected the Common Ringed Plover (<i>Charadrius hiaticula</i>) as a model species to examine predator recognition and adjustment of nest defense. The plover’s defense includes nest camouflage and distraction displays. We evaluated its ability to recognize predators and its responses to species posing varying levels of threat to the clutch and parents. To achieve this, we conducted experiments using dummies accompanied by the calls of the respective species representing the Parasitic Jaeger (<i>Stercorarius parasiticus</i>) and the Eurasian Magpie (<i>Pica pica</i>) as nest predators, the Merlin (<i>Falco columbarius</i>) as an adult predator, the European Golden Plover (<i>Pluvialis apricaria</i>) as a harmless species, and a wooden log as a control baseline. The Common Ringed Plover demonstrated a strong ability to assess potential threats. The Parasitic Jaeger was recognized as the most threatening, eliciting distraction displays and alarm calls. The Magpie elicited a weaker response, possibly due to the plover’s limited experience with it as a nest predator, as magpies rarely forage in its breeding habitats. The response to Merlin was surprisingly low, comparable to the baseline, suggesting that plovers relied rather on the concealment strategy and were hesitant to fly away. Counterintuitively, the plovers did not treat the European Golden Plover as harmless, indicating potential interspecific interactions between these species.</p>