American Golden-plover
A species of Golden Plovers and Black-bellied Plover Scientific name : Pluvialis dominica Genus : Golden Plovers and Black-bellied Plover
American Golden-plover, A species of Golden Plovers and Black-bellied Plover
Botanical name: Pluvialis dominica
Genus: Golden Plovers and Black-bellied Plover
Content
Description People often ask General Info
Photo By Francesco Veronesi , used under CC-BY-SA-2.0 /Cropped and compressed from original 
Description
Measurements: Length: 9.4-11.0 in (24-28 cm) Weight: 4.3-6.8 oz (122-194 g) Wingspan: 25.6-26.4 in (65-67 cm) The breeding adult American golden plover has a black face, neck, breast, and belly, with a white crown and nape that extends to the side of the breast. The back is mottled black and white with pale, gold spots. The breeding female is similar, but with less black. When in winter plumage, both sexes have grey-brown upperparts, pale grey-brown underparts, and a whitish eyebrow. The head is small, along with the bill. It is similar to two other golden plovers, European and Pacific. The American golden plover is smaller, slimmer and relatively longer-legged than European golden plover (Pluvialis apricaria) which also has white axillary (armpit) feathers. It is more similar to Pacific golden plover (Pluvialis fulva) with which it was once considered conspecific under the name "lesser golden plover". The Pacific golden plover is slimmer than the American species, has a shorter primary projection, and longer legs, and is usually yellower on the back. 
Size
25-28 cm (10-11 in)
Life Expectancy
5 years
Nest Placement
Ground
Clutch Size
3 - 5 eggs
Incubation Period
1 brood
Number of Broods
24 - 27 days
Feeding Habits
American Golden-plover typically consume insects, invertebrates, berries, and seeds. They employ a 'run-stop-peck' technique similar to robins, targeting prey such as beetles, grasshoppers, and flies, along with spiders, snails, and crustaceans. Their diet includes fat-rich berries pre-migration, and they forage by sight on tundra, fields, and shores.
Habitat
American Golden-plover predominantly inhabit open landscapes including tundra during the summer breeding season, favoring high, stony slopes over wet, rocky areas. In transit, american Golden-plover frequent lagoons, estuaries, prairies, pastures, and agricultural lands, showcasing a preference for clear visibility to spot predators. While at rest during migration and on wintering grounds, which extend from eastern Brazil to Argentina, american Golden-plover can be found in grasslands, mudflats, and shorelines, adapting to a variety of open habitats.
Nest Behavior
The male american Golden-plover creates multiple nest scrapes during courtship but lines only the selected one. After the scrape is chosen and prepared, the pair engages in egg-laying and both parents partake in the incubation and care of the young, demonstrating a shared parental investment.
Nest Characteristics
American Golden-plover's nest is a shallow depression in tundra vegetation, lined with lichen, grass, and willow or mountain avens leaves. It measures around 4 inches across and 1.8 inches deep, and sometimes includes twigs. Nests, often reused, may be the work of the same or different pairs over the years.
Dite type
Aquatic invertebrate eater
People often ask
General Info
Sounds
Call
Recording location: United States
Call
Recording location: United States
Song
Recording location: United States
Behavior
The american Golden-plover exhibits intricate courtship rituals, including aerial and terrestrial displays. These encompass the 'butterfly display' featuring a male's aerial acrobatics paired with song, and on the ground, shared singing, and 'scraping display' indicating nesting behavior. Social monogamy characterizes american Golden-plover but extra-pair mating occurs. They are territorially aggressive, defending extensive breeding territories up to 125 acres but are less territorial when migrating. In contrast, wintering american Golden-plover in Argentina may defend smaller feeding territories from conspecifics.
Distribution Area
The breeding habitat of American golden plover is Arctic tundra from northern Canada and Alaska. They nest on the ground in a dry open area. They are migratory and winter in southern South America. They follow an elliptical migration path; northbound birds pass through Central America about January–April and stage in great numbers in places like Illinois before their final push north. In fall, they take a more easterly route, flying mostly over the western Atlantic and Caribbean Sea to the wintering grounds in Patagonia. The bird has one of the longest known migratory routes of over 40,000 km (25,000 mi). Of this, 3,900 km (2,400 mi) is over open ocean where it cannot stop to feed or drink. It does this from body fat stores that it stocks up on prior to the flight. It is a regular vagrant to western Europe. A comparison of dates and migratory patterns leads to the conclusion that Eskimo curlews and American golden plovers were the most likely shore birds to have attracted the attention of Christopher Columbus to the nearby Americas in early October 1492, after 65 days at sea out of sight of land.
Species Status
Not globally threatened.
Scientific Classification
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