Species: Pluvialis squatarola
Black-bellied Plover
Species
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Aves
Order
Charadriiformes
Family
Charadriidae
Genus
Pluvialis
NatureServe
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
29
Weight
220
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-11-25
Global Status Last Changed
1996-11-25
Other Status
LC - Least concern
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
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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
H
Global Range Description
>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)