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    Snowy plover

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    Weighs about as much as a couple of slices of bread and is barely bigger than a sparrow

    shell game








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    Snowy plover

    EXEWCRENVUNTLCDDNE

    Weighs about as much as a couple of slices of bread and is barely bigger than a sparrow

    Population 36,000 – 38,000
    30% decline over three generations

    A tiny, pale shorebird that looks like it was designed to disappear into sun-bleached sand. Barely sparrow-sized, it has a round head, big dark eyes, a short, fine black bill, and long, slim grey-black legs. From above, it’s sandy brown, from below clean white, with small dark patches on the sides of the neck and behind the eyes that, in breeding males, sharpen into bolder black “ear” and forehead patches. Instead of a solid chest band like many other plovers, snowy plovers show a broken, incomplete band, giving them a delicate, lightly marked look.

    This species is a beach and salt-flat specialist across the Americas. It breeds on open, sparsely vegetated shores where there’s more bare sand or salt crust than plants: ocean beaches, lagoon edges, salt and soda lakes, and wide sandy river bars. It also uses human-made habitats such as salt ponds, wastewater ponds, and dredge spoil islands. Coastal populations occur along the Pacific from Washington to Chile, along the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Caribbean and Bermuda, while inland breeders nest around saline lakes and flats in the western and central United States and parts of Mexico. On these open flats, snowy plovers feed in classic plover style: pause, scan, then dash and grab. Their diet is mostly tiny invertebrates—beetles, flies and their larvae, worms, small crustaceans and other arthropods—picked from the surface or probed from soft sand and mud.

    Snowy plovers are also famous for flexible family life: in many populations, especially in North America, females frequently desert the first brood soon after hatching to find a new mate and lay a second clutch, leaving the original male to raise the first chicks alone.

    Distribution

    Country
    Population est.
    Status
    Year
    Comments
    Anguilla
    2020
    Aruba
    2020
    Non-Breeding
    Bahamas
    2020
    Bonaire Sint Eustatius And Saba
    2020
    British Virgin Is.
    2020
    Chile
    2020
    Colombia
    2020
    Non-Breeding
    Cuba
    2020
    Curaçao
    2020
    Dominica
    2020
    Dominican Republic
    2020
    Ecuador
    2020
    Haiti
    2020
    Honduras
    2020
    Mexico
    2020
    Peru
    2020
    Puerto Rico
    2020
    Saint Barthélemy
    2020
    Saint Martin
    2020
    Non-Breeding: French Part
    Sint Maarten
    2020
    Non-Breeding: Dutch Part
    St. Kitts & Nevis
    2020
    Turks & Caicos
    2020
    US Virgin Islands
    2020
    United States
    2020
    Venezuela
    2020

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    Get to know me

    Terrestrial / Aquatic

    Altricial / Precocial

    Polygamous / Monogamous

    Dimorphic (size) / Monomorphic

    Active: Diurnal / Nocturnal

    Social behavior: Solitary / Pack / Herd

    Diet: Carnivore / Herbivore / Omnivore / Piscivorous / Insectivore

    Migratory: Yes / No

    Domesticated: Yes / No

    Dangerous: Yes / No

    Distribution

    Country
    Population est.
    Status
    Year
    Comments
    Anguilla
    2020
    Aruba
    2020
    Non-Breeding
    Bahamas
    2020
    Bonaire Sint Eustatius And Saba
    2020
    British Virgin Is.
    2020
    Chile
    2020
    Colombia
    2020
    Non-Breeding
    Cuba
    2020
    Curaçao
    2020
    Dominica
    2020
    Dominican Republic
    2020
    Ecuador
    2020
    Haiti
    2020
    Honduras
    2020
    Mexico
    2020
    Peru
    2020
    Puerto Rico
    2020
    Saint Barthélemy
    2020
    Saint Martin
    2020
    Non-Breeding: French Part
    Sint Maarten
    2020
    Non-Breeding: Dutch Part
    St. Kitts & Nevis
    2020
    Turks & Caicos
    2020
    US Virgin Islands
    2020
    United States
    2020
    Venezuela
    2020

    Did you know?

    • fact 1
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    Anything we've missed?

    Help us improve this page by suggesting edits. Glory never dies!

    Suggest an edit

    Get to know me

    Terrestrial / Aquatic

    Altricial / Precocial

    Polygamous / Monogamous

    Dimorphic / Monomorphic

    Active: Diurnal / Nocturnal

    Social behavior: Solitary / Pack / Herd

    Diet: Carnivore / Herbivore / Omnivore / Piscivorous / Insectivore

    Migratory: Yes / No

    Domesticated: Yes / No

    Dangerous: Yes / No

    EXEWCRENVUNTLCDDNE
    Near Threatened(IUCN)
    World Population 36,000 – 38,000

    30% decline over three generations


    Honorary Patron: BioDB
    Become a Patron

    Threats

    Habitat destruction / Climate change / Freshwater pollution / Marine pollution / Deforestation / Farming / Fishing practices / Poaching & wildlife trade / Invasive species / Parasites & diseases / Noise pollution / Light pollution

    My ID

    Scientific name: Anarhynchus nivosus Number of subspecies: 2 Name of subspecies:

    A. n. nivosus
    A. n. occidentalis

    Physical traits

    Length: 15 – 17 cm (6 – 7 in) Weight: 40 – 43 g (1 – 2 oz) Lifespan: 3 years Wingspan: 34 – 43 cm (13 – 17 in) Incubation: 26 – 33 days Eggs: 2 – 6 eggs
    Habitats: Coastal Desert Marine Fresh water Marsh Rivers Savannah/Grassland
    Regions: North America South America
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