- Pluvialis dominica
Description
Description==
- 9-11" (23-28 cm). A quail-sized plover. In breeding plumage, dull golden-brown above, with black throat, breast, flanks, belly, and undertail coverts; bold white stripe runs from forehead, over eye, and down side of neck and breast. In winter, has bold whitish eyebrow, grayish-white underparts. Lacks white wing stripe, white rump, and black patch under wing of larger and paler Black-bellied Plover. See Pacific Golden-Plover. Extremely similar to Pacific Golden Plover (until recently they were considered one species: Lesser Golden Plover), but in summer more extensive Black underparts and in winter overall greyer appearance. Seperated from Eurasian Golden Plover by smaller size, slimmer build and by longer primary projection the axillaries (armpits) are grey rather than white.
An annual vagrant to Great Britain normally in autumn.
Identification
Habitat: Breeds on tundra; during migration found on coastal beaches and mudflats and inland on prairies and plowed fields.
Nesting: 3 or 4 buff eggs, spotted with brown, in a shallow depression lined with reindeer moss, usually on a ridge or other elevated spot in the tundra.
Range: Breeds from Alaska east to Baffin Island. In migration, most birds travel south over Atlantic Ocean from Canadian Maritimes to South America and return northward in spring over Great Plains, but some winter on islands in Pacific and appear along West Coast during migration.
Voice: A mellow quee-lee-la.
