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Semipalmated Plover
Photos by Bruce
Dayton
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ORDER:
Charadriiformes
FAMILY:
Charadriidae (Plovers - 14 Species)
SUB-FAMILY:
Charadriinae
SPECIES:
Semipalmated Plover
(Charadrius semipalmatus)
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Semipalmated Plover |
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The Semipalmated Plover is very territorial during mating season and often flies over its territory to keep other plovers away. This bird resembles the Killdeer but is much smaller and has only one black neck band. If a predator comes too close to a Semipalmated Plover's nest, the adult bird will fake an injury (Distraction display) to lure it away from the nest. |
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SIZE |
The Semipalmated Plover is a small (7") plover. |
| DESCRIPTION | They have a
gray-brown back and wings, a white belly, and a white breast with one
black neckband. They have a brown cap, a white forehead, a black mask
around the eyes and a short orange and black bill. They have a web
between the middle and inner toes.
Sexes are similar in appearance, but the female is larger and has brown in the mask, the crown-stripe and the chest band. |
| NESTING | Clutch
size ranges from 3-5 eggs, which are incubated in
20 to 25 days by both the male and the female. |
| RANGE |
The Semipalmated Plover's summer range is northern North America. Their breeding habitat is open ground on beaches or flats across northern Alaska and northern Canada eastward to Newfoundland. They winter in South America. |
| HABITAT | Semipalmated Plovers habitat beaches, salt marshes, mudflats, lake edges, and shallow pools |
| DIET | The Semipalmated Plover eats insects like grasshoppers, mosquitoes, locusts and worms. It also eats crustaceans and mollusks. |
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| Semipalmated Plover | |
| Montezuma
National Wildlife Refuge Seneca County, New York |
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| SpPv_125T_036516 | SpPv_125T_036538 |
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American Golden Plover Drawing by Louis Agassiz Fuertes |
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| INTERESTING FACTS |
| Bird Banding |
| Bird banding is an important tool for bird research and studies. Scientists put numbered metal bands around a bird's leg to study the movement, survival and behavior of birds. There are over 9,000 species of birds. |
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Please email with any ideas or comments concerning this web page. |
| The images on this web page are copyrighted © 2003 - 2007 by Bruce Dayton. I want to share my photos to promote conservation and to help people identify and learn about the birds and other creatures that live with us on the North American continent. Please do not use any of my work in any non-profit or for-profit project without first getting written permission from me. You can ask for permission by emailing me at webmaster@wildlifeofnorthamerica.info. All reproductions must bear an appropriate credit. |
NOTE: This site will be updated as time and pictures become available.
Visit Mammals of North America
Semipalmated Plover
( Charadrius semipalmatus )
Updated 10-23-2008
