Measurements
Both Sexes
- Length
- 5.9–6.7 in
15–17 cm - Wingspan
- 13.4 in
34 cm - Weight
- 1.2–2 oz
34–58 g
Other Names
- Kentish Plover (British English)
- Gravelot à collier interrompu (French)
- Chorlitejo patinegro (Spanish)
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.
Habitat
Shore-line
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
Insects
Terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates.
Nesting
Nesting Facts
- Clutch Size
- 2–6 eggs
- Egg Description
- Buffy background, lightly to moderately covered with small spots and scrawls.
- Condition at Hatching
- Downy and active, able to leave nest as soon as down dries.
Nest Description
A natural or scraped depression on dry ground usually lined with pebbles, shell fragments, fish bones, mud chips, vegetation fragments, or invertebrate skeletons.
Nest Placement
Ground
Behavior
Ground Forager
Pauses, looks, runs, and then seizes prey from surface of beach or tide flat. Some probing in sand.
Conservation
Least Concern
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.
Credits
- 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.