Snowy Plover

Snowy Plover, breeding adult; Sanibel, FL; February

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Snowy Plover, adult at its nest; Lido Key, FL; April. Note sand beach location of nest; shells used to line nest; and large eggs in relation to size of adult.

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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 small plover of beaches and barren ground, the Snowy Plover can be found across North and South America, Eurasia, and Africa. In North America it is restricted to the Gulf and Pacific coasts of the United States, and scattered inland localities from Saskatchewan to California and Texas.

Cool Facts

• The Snowy Plover frequently raises two broods a year, and sometimes three in places where the breeding season is long. The female deserts her mate and brood about the time the chicks hatch and initiates a new breeding attempt with a different male.
• Young Snowy Plovers leave their nest within three hours of hatching. They flatten themselves on the ground when a parent signals the approach of people or potential predators. They walk, run, and swim well and forage unassisted by parents, but require periodic brooding for many days after hatching.

Description

• Size: 15-17 cm (6-7 in)
• Wingspan: 34 cm (13 in)
• Weight: 34-58 g (1.2-2.05 ounces)

• Small shorebird.
• Legs moderately long.
• Neck short.
• Back pale tan.
• Underparts white.
• Dark patches on sides of neck reaching around onto top of chest.
• Legs dark.

• Rump and upper tail same color as back.
• Dark tip to center of tail.
• Outer tail feathers white.
• Eyes dark brown.

Breeding (Alternate) Plumage: Front of crown, ear coverts, and neck patches black or dark drab. Rest of crown and nape drab.
Nonbreeding (Basic) Plumage: Crown, nape, face, and neck patches light drab, the same as the back.

Sex Differences

Sexes similar, but in breeding plumage male has black neck patches, forehead, and ear coverts, where female ranges from mostly black to drab.

Immature

Similar to nonbreeding adult, but with scaly pale edging on back feathers.

Similar Species

• Piping Plover has a short, sometimes orange-based bill, a more rounded, "cuter" profile, yellow legs, a thicker chestband, lacks a dark cheek during breeding, and shows a white band across top of tail in flight.
• Killdeer is larger and has two distinct chest bands.
• Wilson's Plover is larger, darker on the back, has a thick, complete chestband, and a large, thick bill.
• Semipalmated Plover has a darker back, yellowish legs, a short and thicker bill that is yellow-based during breeding, and a more rounded, "cuter" profile.

Sound

Call a husky, trilling "purrt," and a whistled "tur-weet," accented on the second syllable.

Range

Range Map

© 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

About the map

Summer Range

Breeds along much of the Gulf Coast from Florida through Mexico, along the Pacific Coast from Washington to southern Mexico, and at inland locations across the western United States. Also in the Caribbean, along the Pacific Coast of South America, in northern Africa, and across Eurasia.

Winter Range

Winters along Pacific and Gulf coasts southward to southern Mexico and the Caribbean. Also in Africa and Eurasia.

Habitat

Barren to sparsely vegetated sand beaches, dry salt flats in lagoons, dredge spoils deposited on beach or dune habitat, levees and flats at salt-evaporation ponds, river bars, along alkaline or saline lakes, reservoirs, and ponds.

Food

Terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates.

Behavior

Foraging

Pauses, looks, runs, and then seizes prey from surface of beach or tide flat. Some probing in sand.

Reproduction

Nest Type

A natural or scraped depression on dry ground usually lined with pebbles, shell fragments, fish bones, mud chips, vegetation fragments, or invertebrate skeletons.

Egg Description

Buffy background, lightly to moderately covered with small spots and scrawls.

Clutch Size

Condition at Hatching

Downy and active, able to leave nest as soon as down dries.

Conservation Status

Breeding population has likely decreased on Gulf Coast since late 1800s owing to habitat alteration and increased recreational use of beaches. The population breeding along Pacific Coast of United States and Baja California is listed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as threatened. The species is listed as endangered or threatened in several states.

Other Names

Gravelot à collier interrompu (French)
Chorlitejo patinegro (Spanish)
Kentish Plover (British) (English)

Sources used to construct this page:

Page, G. W., J. S. Warriner, J. C. Warriner, and P. W. C. Paton. 1995. Snowy Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus). In The Birds of North America, No. 154 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists? Union, Washington, D.C.