Snowy Plover
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Family
Genus
SPECIES
Charadrius nivosus
Population size
36-38 Thou
Life Span
15 years
Weight
34-58
1.2-2
goz
g oz 
Length
15-17
5.9-6.7
cminch
cm inch 
Wingspan
34
13
cminch
cm inch 

The snowy plover (Charadrius nivosus ) is a small wader in the plover bird family, typically about 5-7" in length. It breeds in the southern and western United States, the Caribbean, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile. Long considered to be a subspecies of the Kentish plover, it is now known to be a distinct species.

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Parts of or entire beaches along the Central California coast are protected as nesting sites for the snowy plover and completely restricted to humans. UC Santa Barbara and the Vandenberg Space Force Base are two organizations leading the effort for beaches near them.

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Di

Diurnal

Ca

Carnivore

Te

Terrestrial

Wa

Wading birds

Pr

Precocial

Co

Congregatory

Po

Polyandry

So

Social

Fl

Flocking

Pa

Partial Migrant

Mi

Migrating

S

starts with

Appearance

Snowy plovers are small pale shorebirds that run along white beaches or on the beds of salt lakes. They have a short black beak, snowy white bellies, and grey legs. During the breeding season, males have black ear patches, black crown, and a black neck collar; in females, these are dark in color rather than black.

Distribution

Geography

Snowy plovers breed in the southern and western United States, Central America, western South America, and the Caribbean. Populations that breed in warmer countries are largely sedentary, but northern and inland populations are migratory, wintering south to the tropics. These birds are found along sandy coasts, estuaries, lagoons, brackish inland lakes, open mudflats, reservoirs, and ponds.

Climate zones

Habits and Lifestyle

Snowy plovers live along white beaches. When they move inland they do not travel very far in order to stay in the correct climate and they are able to easily move back to the coast. They hunt by a run-and-pause technique and consume many different small crustaceans that wash up on the sandy beach. While inland, they look to consume mainly insects. Snowy plovers have an acute sense of sight and they are intelligent, whenever they see something that could be edible they pick it up and move the creature across the sand; they do this in order to startle the creature into moving which assures the plovers that what they caught is edible. These small birds are most active during cool early mornings and the rest of the day they spend resting. Snowy plovers are social and sometimes may form flocks of up to 300 individuals. During the breeding season, they often gather at small ponds to bathe, drink and feed together.

Seasonal behavior
Bird's call

Diet and Nutrition

Snowy plovers are carnivores and feed on small crustaceans, mollusks, marine worms, and insects such as flies and beetles.

Mating Habits

MATING BEHAVIOR
INCUBATION PERIOD
26-32 days
INDEPENDENT AGE
28-32 days
BABY NAME
chick
web.animal_clutch_size
3-5 eggs

Snowy plovers have a polyandrous mating system where females mate with more than one male during one breeding season. They nest in a ground scrape and line it with shell fragments, some vegetation, or pebbles. The female lays 3 to 5 eggs and both parents incubate them for 26-32 days. The chicks are precocial and leave the nest soon after hatching. Parents lead them to a suitable feeding area where the young feed themselves. In some areas, the female leaves her brood a few days after hatching and the male raises the young, while she finds a new mate to produce a new clutch. Young Snowy plovers remain dependent on their parents until they can fly; this usually occurs at the age of 28 to 32 days.

Population

Population threats

The major threat to Snowy plovers is human disturbances. In many parts of their range, it has become difficult for these small shorebirds to breed on beaches because of disturbance from the activities of humans or their animals. Snowy plovers also suffer from the loss of their wetland habitats, pollution, changes in climate, and predation.

Population number

According to the IUCN Red List, the total population size of the Snowy plover is around 36,000-38,000 individuals, roughly equating to 25,000-26,000 mature individuals. Specific populations have been estimated in such areas: the North American population - 25,869 individuals; in western South America - 8,000-10,000 individuals; on the Gulf Coast, Bahamas, and Caribbean - around 2,500 individuals. Overall, currently, Snowy plovers are classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red LIst and its numbers today are decreasing.

Fun Facts for Kids

  • To protect their chicks, Snowy plovers use displays to distract predators away from their chicks; they may also use specific calls to signal the young to hide.
  • When Snowy plovers sleep they hide their bill and the front of the head under their feathers. They may also sleep standing on one leg and do so especially when the weather is cold.
  • Snowy plovers camouflaged their nest well so they blend in with the sand and are barely visible.
  • Adult plovers can swim and little chicks also are able to swim short distances when they need to follow parents to small islets on shallow bodies of water.
  • In total there are about 40 species of plovers live around the world.

References

1. Snowy Plover on Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowy_plover
2. Snowy Plover on The IUCN Red List site - https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22725033/119724388
3. Xeno-canto bird call - https://xeno-canto.org/566601

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