Species: Pluvialis squatarola

Black-bellied Plover

Species

Birds

Show on Lists

Salish Sea-reliant birds

Terrestrial vertebrates: birds

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Charadriidae

Genus

Pluvialis

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102793

Classification

Other Global Common Names

Batuiruçu-Cinzenta - Chorlo Gris, Chorlo Árctico - pluvier argenté

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Shorebirds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Charadriiformes - Charadriidae - Pluvialis

Ecology and Life History

Migration

false - false - true - In U.S. migrates along Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the Mississippi River valley; more common in spring along inland routes in Canada. Migrates northward to arctic breeding grounds from s. U.S. in April; most arrive in Beaufort Sea area in early June, adults depart northern breeding areas around mid-August, young remain until late August or early September. Migrates through Costa Rica August-October and March-May (Stiles and Skutch 1989).

Non-migrant

false

Locally Migrant

false

Food Comments

In tidal sand and mud flats and in salt marshes feeds on: marine worms, insects, mollusks, crustaceans. In plowed fields, wet meadows and pastures searches for adult insects and larvae, earthworms, some seeds and berries (Terres 1980).

Reproduction Comments

Breeding begins late May in southwest to late June in north (Harrison 1978). Both sexes usually incubate 4 eggs for 26-27 days. Nestlings precocial. Young tended by both parents; parent depart before fledging at about 23 days.

Ecology Comments

Usually seen alone or in small flocks. May form large flocks to loaf or sleep (Stiles and Skutch 1989). Nesting density in Nunavut varied from 0.3 to 1.0 pairs per square kilometer on Devon Island (Hussell and Page 1976), to 1.2 to 2.3 pairs per square kilometer on Jenny Lind Island (Parmelee et al. 1967).

Length

Weight

220

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

1996-11-25

Global Status Last Changed

1996-11-25

Other Status

LC - Least concern

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - BREEDING: northern and western Alaska, northern Canada (north to Melville, Bathurst, and Devon islands, east to Southhampton and western Baffin islands, west to arctic shore); northern Eurasia (AOU 1983). NON-BREEDING: southwestern British Columbia south along Pacific coast to Chile; Atlantic coast from New Jersey south to northern Argentina; important wintering areas in South America are Suriname and north-central coast of Brazil between Belem and Sao Luis (see Johnson and Herter 1989, Morrison and Ross 1989; see latter for details on other South American sites); West Indies; British Isles, Mediterranean region, southern China, and Hawaii (uncommon, irregular) south to southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand (AOU 1983). Nonbreeders frequently summer in winter range (AOU 1983).

Global Range Code

Global Range Description

>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102793