European golden plover | |
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Adult in breeding plumage | |
Calls | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Charadriiformes |
Family: | Charadriidae |
Genus: | Pluvialis |
Species: | P. apricaria |
Binomial name | |
Pluvialis apricaria | |
Synonyms | |
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The European golden plover (Pluvialis apricaria), also known as the Eurasian golden plover, or just the golden plover within Europe, is a relatively large species of plover. This species is similar to two other golden plovers, the American golden plover, Pluvialis dominica, and Pacific golden plover, Pluvialis fulva, which are both slightly smaller, slimmer and longer-legged than European golden plover, and both have grey rather than white axillary (armpit) feathers (visible in flight, and when the bird stretches its wings on the ground).
The European golden plover was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae . He placed it with the other plovers in the genus Charadrius and coined the binomial name Charadrius apricarius. [2] The species is now placed in the genus Pluvialis that was introduced in 1760 by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson. [3] [4] The genus name is Latin and means "relating to rain", from pluvia, "rain". It was believed that golden plovers flocked when rain was imminent. [5] The species name apricaria is Latin and means "to bask in the sun". [6] The European golden plover is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. [4]
The European golden plover is quite thickset, with its wings only being slightly longer than its tail. Its most distinct feature is a white "s"-shaped band stretching from its forehead to its flanks. [7]
The European golden plover tends to breed in the Arctic tundra and other moorland areas, ranging as far west as Iceland, where they are called Heiðlóa, and as far east as central Siberia; the southernmost breed in Wales and Belarus, after a small breeding population on Dartmoor in southwest England became extinct in about 2010. [7] [8] [9]
In winter, it migrates southwest to milder regions of Europe, northwest Africa, and southwest Asia, from Ireland east to Denmark, and south to the Mediterranean region as far as Algeria, northern Egypt, and the Caspian Sea coast of Iran. It tends to gather in large flocks in open areas, agricultural plains, ploughed land, and short meadows. [10] [11] Vagrants have been recorded west to the east coast of Canada (Newfoundland, Nova Scotia), south to Gambia, and east to Pakistan and northern India. [12]
The European golden plover's call is a monosyllabic, slightly descending, melancholic "tuu". [7] [11]
Its flight action is rapid and powerful, with regular wingbeats. [10]
In the United Kingdom, golden plover chicks rely on craneflies for feeding, while in Sweden march flies are more important. [13]
The European golden plover is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. [14] Overall, the species is secure, being listed by IUCN as Least Concern, but populations on the southern fringe of the breeding range are declining or extinct in several countries, including Britain, [8] Denmark (extinct as a breeding bird), Belgium (extinct as a breeding bird), Poland (extinct as a breeding bird), Germany, and southern Sweden. [15] [9] It is most abundant in Iceland, which holds about a third of the global population. [9]
The European golden plover spends summers in Iceland, and in Icelandic folklore, the appearance of the first plover in the country means that spring has arrived. [16] The Icelandic media always covers the first plover sighting, which in 2017, took place on 27 March, [17] and in 2020, on 16 March. [18]
On 10 November 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver, then the managing director of the Guinness Breweries, [19] went on a shooting party in the North Slob, by the River Slaney in County Wexford, Ireland. After missing a shot at a Eurasian golden plover, he became involved in an argument over which was the fastest game bird in Europe, the golden plover or the red grouse (the former being correct). [20] That evening at Castlebridge House, he realised that it was impossible to confirm in reference books whether or not the golden plover was Europe's fastest game bird. [21] [22] Beaver knew that there must be numerous other questions debated nightly in pubs throughout Ireland, but there was no book in the world with which to settle arguments about records. He realised then that a book supplying the answers to this sort of question might prove popular. [23] A Guinness employee told Sir Hugh of two twin brothers, Norris and Ross McWhirter, who had opened a fact checking agency in London. Sir Hugh interviewed the brothers and, impressed by their prodigious knowledge, commissioned the book. Later, he published the first Guinness World Records which became a best seller within months. [24]
The black-winged stilt is a widely distributed, very long-legged wader in the avocet and stilt family Recurvirostridae. Its scientific name, Himantopus himantopus, is sometimes used to generalize a single, almost cosmopolitan species. Alternatively, it is restricted to the form that is widespread in Europe, Asia and Africa, which equals the nominate group of H. himantopussensu lato. Meanwhile, the black-necked and white-backed stilts both inhabit the Americas; the pied stilt ranges from Australasia and New Zealand. Today, most sources accept between one and four actual species.
The common ringed plover or ringed plover is a small plover that breeds across much of northern Eurasia, as well as Greenland. The genus name Charadrius is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. It derives from Ancient Greek kharadrios a bird found in ravines and river valleys. The specific hiaticula is Latin and has a similar meaning to the Greek term, coming from hiatus, "cleft" and -cola, "dweller".
The Eurasian oystercatcher also known as the common pied oystercatcher, or just oystercatcher, is a wader in the oystercatcher bird family Haematopodidae. It has striking black and white plumage, a long straight orange-red bill, red eyes and relatively short dull pink legs. The sexes are similar in appearance but the bill of the female is longer than that of the male.
The grey plover or black-bellied plover is a large plover breeding in Arctic regions. It is a long-distance migrant, with a nearly worldwide coastal distribution when not breeding.
The American golden plover, is a medium-sized plover. The genus name is Latin and means relating to rain, from pluvia, "rain". It was believed that golden plovers flocked when rain was imminent. The species name dominica refers to Santo Domingo, now Hispaniola, in the West Indies.
The Pacific golden plover is a migratory shorebird that breeds during summer in Alaska and Siberia. During nonbreeding season, this medium-sized plover migrates widely across the Pacific.
The Eurasian spoonbill, or common spoonbill, is a wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae. The species is partially migratory with the more northerly breeding populations migrating south for the winter.
The little ringed plover is a small plover. The genus name Charadrius is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. It derives from Ancient Greek kharadrios a bird found in river valleys. The specific dubius is Latin for doubtful, since Sonnerat, writing in 1776, thought this bird might be just a variant of common ringed plover.
The Eurasian dotterel, also known in Europe as just dotterel, is a small wader in the plover family of birds. It is the only species placed in the genus Eudromias.
The greater sand plover is a small wader in the plover family of birds. The spelling is commonly given as "greater sandplover" or "greater sand-plover", but the official British Ornithologists' Union spelling is "Greater Sand Plover". The specific leschenaultii commemorates the French botanist Jean Baptiste Leschenault de la Tour.
The Caspian plover is a wader in the plover family of birds. The specific asiaticus is Latin and means "Asian", although in binomials it usually means the type locality was India.
Charadrius is a genus of plovers, a group of wading birds. The genus name Charadrius is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. They are found throughout the world.
Pluvialis is a genus of plovers, a group of wading birds comprising four species that breed in the temperate or Arctic Northern Hemisphere.
The Blackwater Estuary is the estuary of the River Blackwater between Maldon and West Mersea in Essex. It is a 5,538 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). An area of 4,395 hectares is also designated a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance, and a Special Protection Area 1,099 hectares is a National Nature Reserve. Tollesbury Wick and part of Abbotts Hall Farm, both nature reserve managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust, are in the SSSI.
The Ribble and Alt Estuaries lie on the Irish Sea coast of the ceremonial counties of Lancashire and Merseyside in the traditional county of Lancashire in north-west England, and form the boundaries of a number of conservation schemes.
The New Zealand plover is a species of shorebird found only in certain areas of New Zealand. It is also called the New Zealand dotterel or red-breasted dotterel, and its Māori names include tūturiwhatu, pukunui, and kūkuruatu.
The terrestrial fauna of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands is unsurprisingly depauperate, because of the small land area of the islands, their lack of diverse habitats, and their isolation from large land-masses. However, the fauna dependent on marine resources is much richer.
The Kentish plover is a small wader of the family Charadriidae that breeds on the shores of saline lakes, lagoons, and coasts, populating sand dunes, marshes, semi-arid desert, and tundra. Both male and female birds have pale plumages with a white underside, grey/brown back, dark legs and a dark bill; however, additionally the male birds also exhibit very dark incomplete breast bands, and dark markings either side of their head, therefore the Kentish plover is regarded as sexually dimorphic.
The shore plover, also known as the shore dotterel, is a small plover endemic to New Zealand. Once found all around the New Zealand coast, it is now restricted to a few offshore islands. It is one of the world's rarest shorebirds: the population is roughly 200.
Nätsi-Võlla Nature Reserve is a nature reserve situated in western Estonia, in Pärnu County, made up of several bogs that together form the largest bog area in Pärnu County.