semipalmated plover
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) Heislerville Wildlife Management Area, New Jersey, USA.jpg
| image_caption = Breeding plumage in Heislerville, New Jersey.
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Charadrius
| species = semipalmatus
| authority = Bonaparte, 1825
| synonyms =
Charadrius hiaticula semipalmatus
| range_map = Charadrius semipalmatus map.svg
}}
The semipalmated plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) is a small plover. 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 (kharadra, "ravine"). The specific semipalmatus is Latin and comes from semi, "half" and palma, "palm". Like the English name, this refers to its only partially webbed feet.{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n99 99], 353}}
Description
This species weighs a mean 47.4 g (1.7 oz.) for males and 46.1 g (1.6 oz.) for females, with body masses ranging from 37.6-54.7 g (1.3-1.9 oz.).{{Cite book |last=Dunning |first=John B. |title=CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses |date=2008 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-4200-6444-5 |edition=2nd |pages=102}} and measures {{convert|17|-|19|cm|in|abbr=on}} in length with a {{convert|12|-|13|cm|in|abbr=on}} mean wing length.{{Cite web |title=Semipalmated plover |url=https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/semipalmated-plover |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute |language=en}} Adults have a grey-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.
File:Charadrius semipalmatus - Semipalmated Plover - XC109656.ogg
Habitat
Their breeding habitat is open ground on beaches or flats across northern Canada and Alaska. They nest on the ground in an open area with little or no plant growth.
They are migratory and winter in coastal areas of the southern United States, the Caribbean and much of South America. They are extremely rare vagrants to western Europe, and have been found in Tierra del Fuego and the Isles of Scilly.{{cite book|last=Coomber|first=Richard|title=Birds of the World|year=1991|publisher=Colour Library Books Ltd.|location=Godalming, Surrey|isbn=0862838061|pages=[https://archive.org/details/photographicency0000coom/page/97 97–100]|chapter=Charadriiformes: Plovers|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/photographicency0000coom/page/97}} Their true status may be obscured by the difficulty in identifying them from the very similar ringed plover of Eurasia, of which it was formerly considered a subspecies.
Behavior
Semipalmated plovers forage for food on beaches, tidal flats and fields, usually by sight. They eat insects (such as the larvae of long-legged and beach flies, larvae of soldier flies and shore flies, mosquitoes, grasshoppers and Ochtebius beetles), spiders,{{cite web | url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Charadrius_semipalmatus/ | title=Charadrius semipalmatus (Semipalmated plover) | website=Animal Diversity Web |publisher=University of Michigan}} crustaceans (such as isopods, decapods and copepods) and worms (such as polychaetes). They also consume small molluscs including bivalves and gastropods, including snails such as coffee bean snails and Odostomia laevigata. These opportunistic feeders also feed on berries or seeds from grasslands or cultivated fields. This bird resembles the killdeer but is much smaller and has only one band.{{cite book|author=Kaufman, Kenn. |year=2000 |title=Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America|location= New York|publisher= Houghton-Mifflin}} Since the semipalmated plover nests on the ground, it uses a "broken-wing" display to lure intruders away from the nest, in a display similar to the related killdeer.
Gallery
File:Semipalmatedplover-santafeisland.jpg|Galápagos Islands
File:Semipalmated Plover, broken wing display.jpg|"Broken wing" display
Image:Charadrius-semipalmatus-002.jpg|Juvenile
File:Charadrius semipalmatus (Audubon).jpg|Illustration (John James Audubon)
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Charadrius semipalmatus|Semipalmated plover}}
{{Wikispecies|Charadrius semipalmatus}}
- [http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Semipalmated_Plover.html Semipalmated plover species account] - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20180812083300/https://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i2740id.html Semipalmated plover - Charadrius semipalmatus] - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
- [http://www.ec.gc.ca/soc-sbc/oiseau-bird-eng.aspx?sY=2011&sL=e&sM=p1&sB=SEPL Semipalmated plover], Environment Canada
- {{InternetBirdCollection|semipalmated-plover-charadrius-semipalmatus|Semipalmated plover}}
- {{VIREO|Semipalmated+Plover|Semipalmated plover}}
- {{IUCN_Map|22693764/262195475|Charadrius semipalmatus}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q468009}}
Category:Native birds of Alaska
Category:Meso-American wintering birds
Category:Wintering birds of South America