Pacific golden plover | |
---|---|
In breeding plumage at Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Alaska | |
In non-breeding plumage at Laem Pak Bia, Thailand | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Charadriiformes |
Family: | Charadriidae |
Genus: | Pluvialis |
Species: | P. fulva |
Binomial name | |
Pluvialis fulva (Gmelin, JF, 1789) | |
Range of P. fulva Breeding Passage Non-breeding Vagrant (seasonality uncertain) | |
Synonyms | |
Charadrius fulvus |
The Pacific golden plover (Pluvialis fulva) 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 Pacific golden plover was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae . He placed it with the other plovers in the genus Charadrius and coined the binomial name Charadrius fulvus. [2] Gmelin based his description on the "Fulvous plover" that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham from specimens from Tahiti. [3] The Pacific golden plover is now placed in the genus Pluvialis that was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. [4] The genus name is Latin and means relating to rain, from pluvia, 'rain'. It was believed that the plovers flocked when rain was imminent. The specific epithet is also from Latin and means 'tawny' or 'yellowish-brown'. [5] The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. [6]
Adults are about 25 cm (9.8 in) long with a wingspan averaging 61 cm (24 in) At their lightest, fat free, the birds weigh around 135 g (4.8 oz) In March, the birds begin gaining weight. Before leaving for their Arctic breeding grounds, the birds weigh about 200 g (7.1 oz) [7]
In breeding plumage, the male is spotted gold and black on the crown, back, and wings. Face and neck are black bordered with white, breast is black, rump is dark. Bill is black, legs are gray to black. Female similar but black breast mottled and less distinct.
In nonbreeding plumage, sexes look identical. The black on the face and breast bordered by white is replaced with dark brown, gray, and yellowish patterning and lighter underparts.
Molt to breeding plumage begins in March and April, prior to migration. Molt to nonbreeding plumage begins in the Arctic during egg incubation.
Downy chicks are spotted gold and black on head and back with whitish yellow underparts. Legs and feet are adult size at hatching.
Similar birds are the European golden plover, Pluvialis apricaria, and the American golden plover, Pluvialis dominica. The Pacific golden plover is more similar to the American golden plover, with which it was once considered the lesser golden plover. [8] The Pacific golden plover is slimmer than the American golden plover, has longer legs, and usually has more yellow on the back.
The Pacific golden plover is migratory, and breeds during May, June, and July in Alaska and Siberia. It migrates south to Asia, Australasia, and Pacific islands in August and September, and stays until April or May. A rare vagrant to western Europe.
Although a shorebird, the Pacific golden plover feeds mostly inland, preferring open spaces with short vegetation. [7] During the breeding season, the Arctic tundra provides insects and berries for food, and effective camouflage for predator avoidance.
In Hawaii, Pacific golden plovers, known locally as kōlea, have adapted remarkably to human presence and to human alteration of the natural environment including, backyards, parks, cemeteries, rooftops, pastures, and golf courses. Because kōlea are site-faithful, each bird returns to, and defends, the same territory year after year, resulting in people observing the comings and goings of the kōlea with special interest. Some observers name and feed their birds, and some birds become tame around their caretakers. The oldest kōlea recorded lived to be at least 21 years, 3 months; its age was unknown at banding. [7]
Kōlea are the subject of a Hawaii Audubon Society's citizen science project called Kōlea Count, www.koleacount.org. The birds' habit of returning to the same territory each year allows scientists in Hawaiʻi to attach tiny light level geolocator devices to the birds and retrieve them the following year in the same location. Such research showed that the birds made the 3,000 miles (4,800 km) nonstop flight between Alaska and Hawai'i in 3–4 days. [9]
Pacific golden plovers gather in flocks some days prior to migrating north, and fly at altitudes of about 3,000 ft (910 m) to as high as 16,000 ft (4,900 m). [7] Some birds do not migrate. These are usually first-year, older, injured individuals, or birds without enough fat reserves to make the journey.
The Pacific golden plover breeds in Arctic tundra areas of Siberia and western Alaska. Males usually arrive first, possibly returning to, and defending, the same territory each year. Some males and females appear to arrive paired. [10] Females have been observed searching for breeding partners on the tundra. The male builds a nest of lichen, moss, and grasses, in shallow scrapes on the ground in a dry open area. The female lays 4 eggs, buff-colored with splotches of black and brown. Both male and female share incubation, care of young, and defense from foxes and avian predators.
Soon after hatching, chicks leave the nest to forage, returning to the parent birds to seek warmth and shelter. When juveniles are capable of flight around 26–28 days after hatching, parent birds begin leaving to migrate south. [10] Females usually depart first. Flocks of juveniles remain, making the migration sometimes as late as October and November depending on Arctic weather. First-year birds migrate by instinct, confronting the vagaries of weather during their long southward flights. Once landed, they must compete with each other and established adults for foraging ground.
It forages on tundra, in mowed grass, and on beaches and tidal flats, eating nearly anything that crawls including insects, spiders, mollusks, crustaceans, and small reptiles, as well as berries, leaves, and seeds. [11] Foraging pace is a repeated run-stop-peck. [7] Most wintering birds feed singly within an established territory. Non-territorial birds feed in loose groups.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species dated 10/01/16 assessed the Pacific golden plover to be a species of Least Concern globally. [1] [12] However, the population trend is decreasing, the main threat being a global shift in habitat and alteration due to climate change and severe weather.
The American wigeon, also known as the baldpate, is a species of dabbling duck found in North America. Formerly assigned to Anas, this species is classified with the other wigeons in the dabbling duck genus Mareca. It is the New World counterpart of the Eurasian wigeon.
The tundra swan is a small swan of the Holarctic. The two taxa within it are usually regarded as conspecific, but are also sometimes split into two species: Bewick's swan of the Palaearctic and the whistling swan proper of the Nearctic. Birds from eastern Russia are sometimes separated as the subspecies C. c. jankowskii, but this is not widely accepted as distinct, with most authors including them in C. c. bewickii. Tundra swans are sometimes separated in the subgenus Olor together with the other Arctic swan species.
The snow bunting is a passerine bird in the family Calcariidae. It is an Arctic specialist, with a circumpolar Arctic breeding range throughout the northern hemisphere. There are small isolated populations on a few high mountain tops south of the Arctic region, including the Cairngorms in central Scotland and the Saint Elias Mountains on the southern Alaska-Yukon border, as well as the Cape Breton Highlands. The snow bunting is the most northerly recorded passerine in the world.
The ruddy turnstone is a small cosmopolitan wading bird, one of two species of turnstone in the genus Arenaria.
The American avocet is a large wader in the avocet and stilt family, Recurvirostridae, found in North America. It spends much of its time foraging in shallow water or on mud flats, often sweeping its bill from side to side in water as it seeks crustacean and insect prey.
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 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 European golden plover, 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.
The greater yellowlegs is a large shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It breeds in central Canada and southern Alaska and winters in southern North America, Central America, the West Indies and South America.
The lesser yellowlegs is a medium-sized shorebird. It breeds in the boreal forest region of North America.
The long-billed dowitcher is a medium-sized shorebird with a relatively long bill belonging to the sandpiper family, Scolopacidae. In breeding plumage, adults are characterized by a beautiful rufous head and underparts with a darker mottled back and a large white upper rump only seen in flight. They feed in various freshwater habitats with their bill underwater in a "sewing machine" motion and are known to have an exciting mating display where males chase females in flight. The genus, Limnodromus is Ancient Greek from limne, "marsh" and dromos, "racer". The specific scolopaceus is Neo-Latin for "snipe-like", from Latin scolopax, scolopacis, a snipe or woodcock. The English name is from Iroquois and was first recorded in 1841.
The short-billed dowitcher, like its congener the long-billed dowitcher, is a medium-sized, stocky, long-billed shorebird in the family Scolopacidae.
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The long-billed plover is a species of wading bird in the family Charadriidae. It can be found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Russia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The long-billed plover is a migratory bird, so it breeds and spends the winter in different parts of its range. This bird can often be spotted along the shores of rivers, streams, in wetlands, and rice fields. It forages on the shoreline primarily for aquatic insects, insect larvae, and other invertebrates. It is difficult to distinguish between male and female individuals because of their similar plumage. The breeding season starts at the end of February or early March and ends in July. A male and a female forms a monogamous pair and maintains their territory throughout the breeding season. A global population survey in 2016 assessed the long-billed plover as a species of least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
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