Semipalmated Plover

Semipalmated Plover, breeding plumage

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Semipalmated Plover, nonbreeding plumage

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Behavior
7. Conservation Status
8. Other Names

A small dark shorebird with a single band across its chest, the Semipalmated Plover is the most common plover seen on migration in most areas.

Cool Facts

• The Semipalmated Plover has been seen to swim short distances across small water channels during foraging while on migration. Chicks also swim short distances to follow parents to small islets on shallow lakes

Description

• Size: 17-19 cm (7-7 in)
• Weight: 47 g (1.66 ounces)

• Small shorebird.
• Legs moderately long.
• Neck short.
• Back brown.
• Underparts white with one thick black or brown band on chest.
• Legs yellowish.

Breeding (Alternate) Plumage: Face, forehead, and chestband black.
Nonbreeding (Basic) Plumage: Face, forehead, and chestband more brownish, and white eyestripe more apparent.

Sex Differences

Sexes similar, but female slightly larger, and with brown feathers in crown, mask, and chestband, and with more distinct white eyestripe.

Immature

Similar to adult, but with duller markings and pale scaling on back.

Similar Species

• Killdeer is larger and has two distinct chest bands.
• Wilson's Plover is larger, has dull grayish legs, a long, thick black bill, and a more flat-headed profile.
• Snowy Plover has a pale back, dark legs, an incomplete chestband, and a short, thin dark bill.
• Piping Plover has a pale back, a thinner, less complete chestband, and lacks dark in the face.

Sound

A short two-noted whistle, "chu-wee," with second note higher.

Range

Range Map

© 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

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Summer Range

Breeds across Alaska and northern Canada eastward to Newfoundland, southward to southern shore of James Bay.

Winter Range

Winters along coasts from northern California and southern Virginia southward to southern South America.

Behavior

Foraging

Searches for prey visually. Runs several steps, stops, stares, and then pecks or quickly snatches at prey.

Conservation Status

The Semipalmated Plover is among the few plovers whose numbers are apparently increasing, perhaps owing to its versatility in food and habitat choice, its wide-spread coastal winter distribution, or its habitat expansion in the sub-Arctic as a result of disturbance by both humans and arctic geese.

Other Names

Pluvier semipalmé (French)
Chorlito semipalmeado, Cholo semipalmado (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Nol, E., and M. S. Blanken. 1999. Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus). In The Birds of North America, No. 444 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.