Eurasian Golden Plover

The Eurasian Golden Plover, Pluvialis apricaria, is a largish plover.

Breeding 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. In winter, the black is lost and the plover then has a yellowish face and breast and white underparts.

This species is similar to two other golden plovers. American Golden Plover, Pluvialis dominiica, and Pacific Golden Plover, Pluvialis fulva, are both smaller, slimmer and relatively longer-legged than Eurasian Golden Plover, and both have grey rather than white axillary (armpit) feathers.

Their breeding habitat is moorland and tundra in northernmost parts of Europe and western Asia. They nest on the ground in a dry open area. They are migratory and winter in southern Europe and north Africa. Around 500,000 birds winter in Ireland and Great Britain.

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