Plover

Plover, common name for members of a family of widely distributed shorebirds consisting of more than 60 species. Two groups are usually recognized: the typical plovers and the lapwings. Plovers are distinguished from their similar shorebird relatives the sandpipers by their relatively short bills, which are enlarged and hardened at the tip. The plumage of sandpipers is relatively subdued in color and pattern, whereas many of the plovers are strikingly patterned.

Plovers typically stand immobile, then run rapidly to the next food source, preying on a variety of small invertebrates. Although relatively sociable, they seldom form the large flocks typical of sandpipers in the nonbreeding season. Many are true shorebirds, but several of both the typical plovers and the lapwings inhabit upland areas, on fields or plains. Tropical plovers are sedentary, but the northernmost and southernmost breeding species are highly migratory. The nests are on the surface of the ground or in a small depression, sometimes lined with pebbles, shells, or grass. Clutch size is usually four in northern species, but fewer in the tropical plovers.

The largest genus contains about 30 species, many of which have dark "rings" or "belts" across their upper breasts. In the Americas the best-known species, and the only one with two breast rings, is the primarily upland killdeer. Sandy beaches of lakes and rivers east of the Rockies and of the Atlantic coast south to Virginia are the home of the piping plover; the small Great Lakes populations are considered endangered. It is about 16 cm (about 6.3 in) long, and its pale colors blend perfectly with dry beach sand. Similar in size but matching wet sand in color is the darker semipalmated plover, a breeding bird of Alaska and much of northern Canada. It is a familiar sight in spring and fall along its migration route to southern South America. A similar species, the common ringed plover, nests principally in northern Eurasia; the populations nesting in the eastern Canadian Arctic and Greenland migrate to Europe. It is larger (about 19 cm/7.5 in) and has a broader breast band than the semipalmated plover. Taking the place of the piping plover on the Gulf coast and much of western North America is the similar snowy plover, which also ranges into South America and much of Eurasia, where it is known as the Kentish plover. Other members of the genus nest on every continent.

Four species of another genus are among the most highly migratory shorebirds. In the breeding season, all four have black underparts and mottled backs. The black underparts are lost in the post-breeding molt. The largest is the black-bellied plover, called grey plover in Eurasia, which is about 33 cm (about 13 in) long. Its back is speckled with black and white, slightly tinged yellowish in winter. The three golden plovers have brightly mottled yellow and black upperparts. The American golden plover, about 26 cm (about 10.5 in) long, has one of the longest migrations known, a round trip of almost 13,000 km (about 8000 mi) from the arctic nesting areas to the southern tip of South America; part of this route takes it about 3860 km (about 2400 mi) over open ocean from Nova Scotia to northeastern South America. Equally impressive is the migration of the closely similar Pacific golden plover, which leaves its Siberian and Alaskan summer home and crosses the trackless Pacific Ocean annually to find the same island on which to winter. The larger Eurasian golden plover, 28 cm (11 in) long, occasionally strays across the Atlantic to Newfoundland.

Scientific classification: Plovers make up the family Charadriidae of the order Charadriiformes. The killdeer is classified as Charadrius vociferus, the piping plover as Charadrius melodus, the semipalmated plover as Charadrius semipalmatus, the common ringed plover as Charadrius hiaticula, and the snowy plover as Charadrius alexandrinus. The black-bellied plover is classified as Pluvialis squatarola, the American golden plover as Pluvialis dominica, the Pacific golden plover as Pluvialis fulva, and the Eurasian golden plover as Pluvialis apricaria.

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