European Golden-Plover
Pluvialis apricaria
Fairly common but often local, breeding on moorland and tundra, wintering in grasslands, fields, and less often coastal mudflats. Migrant and wintering birds often flock with lapwings. Smaller than Black-bellied (Gray) Plover, which has gray or silvery upperparts. All plumages of Golden are spangled and spotted golden above; breeding plumage has variable black on face and belly. Nonbreeding plumage is buffy golden overall with white belly. In flight shows bright white underwings, narrow whitish wing stripe.
Identification
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.
Taxonomy
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. The species is now placed in the genus Pluvialis that was introduced in 1760 by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson. 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 apricaria is Latin and means "to bask in the sun". The European golden plover is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
- Scientific name
- Pluvialis apricaria
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Charadriidae
- Genus
- Pluvialis
Range and habitat
The European golden plover tends to breed in the Arctic tundra and other palearctic areas, ranging as far west as Iceland, where they are called Heiðlóa, and as far east as central Siberia. It tends to gather in large flocks and winter in open areas, agricultural plains, ploughed land, and short meadows, ranging from Europe to North Africa.<p>In the United Kingdom, golden plover chicks rely on Tipulidae for feeding, while in Sweden Bibionidae are more important.
- Breeding range
- PAL : inland low Arctic (mainly) to temperate zone: ec Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Is., British Is., n Germany and Denmark, Fennoscandia, Baltic e to Taimyr Pen. (nc Russia)
- Non-breeding range
- to inland and coastal s Europe, n Africa to Middle East
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
The European golden plover's call is a monosyllabic, slightly descending, melancholic "tuu".<p>Its flight action is rapid and powerful, with regular wingbeats.
Conservation
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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