American Golden Plover

The American Golden Plover, Pluvialis dominica, is a medium-sized plover.

Adults are spotted gold and black on the crown, back and wings. Their face and neck are black with a white border; they have a black breast and a dark rump. The legs are black.

It is similar to two other golden plovers, Eurasian and Pacific. American Golden Plover is smaller, slimmer and relatively longer-legged than Eurasian 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 (as Lesser Golden Plover). Pacific is slimmer than American, has a shorter primary projection, and longer legs. It is usually yellower on the back.

The breeding habitat of American Golden Plover is arctic tundra from northern Canada and Alaska to Siberia. They nest on the ground in a dry open area.

They are migratory and winter in northern South America. This wader is a regular vagrant to western Europe.

These birds forage for food on tundra, fields, beaches and tidal flats, usually by sight. They eat insects and crustaceans, also berries.

Large numbers were shot in the late 1800s and the population has never fully recovered.