American Golden-Plover

Male American Golden-Plover, breeding plumage, Churchill, Manitoba; June

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Juvenile American Golden-Plover, Ventura, CA. October.

Juvenile American Golden-Plover, Jamaica Bay WR, Queens, NY; September.

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A large shorebird of pastures, open ground, and mudflats, the American Golden-Plover makes one of the longest migratory journeys of any shorebird. It breeds on the high Arctic tundra of Alaska and Canada and winters in the grasslands of central and southern South America.

Cool Facts

• The American Golden-Plover has a long, circular migration route. In the fall it flies offshore from the East Coast of North America nonstop to South America. On the return in the spring it passes primarily through the middle of North America to reach its Arctic breeding grounds.

• Adult American Golden-Plovers leave their Arctic breeding grounds in early summer, but juveniles usually linger until late summer or fall. Some adults arrive on the wintering grounds in southern South America before the last juveniles have left the Arctic.

Description

• Size: 24-28 cm (9-11 in)
• Wingspan: 57 cm (22 in)
• Weight: 122-194 g (4.31-6.85 ounces)

• Medium-sized to large shorebird.
• Legs moderately long.
• Neck short.
• Bill short.
• Head large and rounded.
• Golden and black speckled back.
• In breeding plumage, black from face to under tail.

• Wingtips extend well beyond tail.
• Four wing feathers (primaries) extend beyond covering feathers (tertials).
• Wing linings gray.
• Bill black.
• Eyes dark brown.
• Legs gray to black.

Breeding (Alternate) Plumage: Crown, nape, back, and wings dark brown with yellowish spots. Face, throat, chest, belly, flanks, and undertail black. White in line from forehead, above eyes, down back of neck to chest. Wing feathers dark grayish brown. Tail feathers barred light and dark grayish brown.
Nonbreeding (Basic) Plumage: Crown, nape, and back grayish brown with yellow, buff, and whitish spots. Chest, breast, sides, and flanks mostly grayish brown with slight wash of pale yellow. Belly and undertail whitish. Distinct whitish eyestripe. Sides of head grayish with dark ear spot.

Sex Differences

Sexes similar, but female in breeding plumage less colorful than male, with varying amounts of white in face and breast. Female may have white cheek patches.

Immature

Juvenile similar to winter adult, but with light barring on chest, sides, and flanks, and more distinct yellow edges and spots on feathers of crown, back, and wings.

Similar Species

• Extremely similar to Pacific Golden-Plover. Breeding male Pacific has white stripe extending along sides from face to tail, but the stripe extends only from the face to the chest in American. Pacific has shorter wings and longer tertials that results in only three, not four primaries extending beyond the tertials. Wings extend just to tip of tail or just beyond. Pacific has slightly longer legs and bill. Pacific tends to be more golden on back in all plumages, but this is variable.
• Black-bellied Plover is larger, with a larger bill, and has white rump, white stripe in wing, and dark armpits in all plumages. In breeding plumage back is gray and black, not golden, and black extends only to belly, leaving undertail white. Juvenile similar, but is more gray and less golden (although some can be very yellowish brown), and shows less of a dark cap.
• Very rare European Golden-Plover is slightly larger, shorter winged, and has white, not gray, linings under the wings. In breeding plumage the European Golden-Plover has a complete white stripe down the side and white under the tail.
• Mountain Plover is more plainly marked, without spots on back, and has dark tailband and white stripe on wings.

Sound

Song a rapid series of abrupt whistled notes. Flight call a whistled "que-del," or "tuu-u-ee."

Range

Range Map

© 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

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Summer Range

Breeds from western Alaska across very northern Canada to Baffin Island, southward to northern British Columbia and northern Manitoba and Ontario. Also in very eastern Siberia.

Winter Range

Winters primarily in central and southern South America. A few individuals in Florida, Central America, and northern South America.

Habitat

Breeds on Arctic tundra, especially in low vegetation on rocky slopes. Winters in grazed grasslands. On migration found in prairie, pastures, tilled farmland, golf courses, airports, mudflats, shorelines, and beaches.

Food

Invertebrates, berries, leaves, and seeds.

Behavior

Foraging

Feeds in short vegetation or open areas. Moves by stop-run-stop, scanning and capturing prey at stops. Captures prey by single peck or series of pecks.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Scrape in ground, lined with lichens, dry grass, or leaves.

Egg Description

White to buff, heavily spotted and splotched with dark brown and black.

Clutch Size

Condition at Hatching

Covered with down and able to walk soon after hatching. Feed themselves within one day.

Conservation Status

Market hunting in 19th and early 20th centuries caused major decline in American Golden-Plover numbers. One estimate of a single day's kill near New Orleans was 48,000. Population rebounded after hunting ended.

Other Names

Pluvier doré d'Amérique, Pluvier fauve (French)
Chorlo dorado, Chorlo pampa, Chorlo axiliclaro (Spanish)
American Golden Plover, Golden Plover (in part), Lesser Golden-Plover (in part) (English)

Sources used to construct this page:

Johnson, O. W., and P. G. Connors. 1996. American Golden-Plover (Pluvialis dominica), Pacific Golden-Plover (Pluvialis fulva). In The Birds of North America, No. 201-202 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.