Pluvier doré

Pluvialis apricaria

Assez commun mais souvent localisé, nichant dans les landes et la toundra, hivernant dans les prairies, les champs et plus rarement les vasières côtières. Les oiseaux migrateurs et hivernants se regroupent souvent avec des vanneaux. Plus petit que le Pluvier argenté, qui a les parties supérieures grises ou argentées. Tous les plumages du Pluvier doré sont mouchetés et tachetés d'or sur le dessus ; le plumage nuptial présente du noir variable sur la face et le ventre. Le plumage internuptial est globalement doré chamois avec un ventre blanc. En vol, il montre le dessous des ailes blanc vif et une étroite bande alaire blanchâtre.

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.

Taxonomie

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.

Nom scientifique
Pluvialis apricaria
Autorité
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Ordre
Charadriiformes
Famille
Charadriidés
Genre
Pluvialis

Répartition et 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.

Aire de reproduction
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)
Aire hors reproduction
to inland and coastal s Europe, n Africa to Middle East
Migration
Complete migrants

Comportement

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

Tendance de la population
rising

Photos

Distribution

Chants d'Oiseaux

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