Charadrius wilsonia

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Physical Description

Habitat

The non-breeding habitat of the Wilson's Plover includes a variety of coastal areas such as sandy beaches, tidal flats , and small water sources.

Vegetation: coastal sand beaches and mudflats • Foraging Strata: Terrestrial • Center of Abundance: Lower tropical: lowlands, lower than 500 m.; tropics. • Sensitivity to Disturbance: Medium

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 2,911 meters (0 to 9,551 feet).[1]

Ecology: List of Habitats :

•     12     Marine Intertidal   
  
•     12.2     Marine Intertidal - Sandy Shoreline and/or Beaches, Sand Bars , Spits , Etc   
  
•     12.4     Marine Intertidal - Mud Flats and Salt Flats   
[more info]

Biology

Diet

The diet consists mostly of crustaceans and insects. Wilson's Plover feed both at night and during the day by moving on the ground in search of food at the water's edge .

Primarily: Aquatic Invertebrates

Reproduction

The breeding season begins in early April and extends into August. Nesting occurs on sandy beaches near the coast. The Wilson's Plover is a colonial nester , nesting in loose groups, sometimes with oystercatchers and terns. The male creates a nest scrape where the female lays the eggs . The scrape is commonly concealed by surrounding stones , driftwood, and other debris . The female lays 2-4 (usually 3) eggs that both adults incubate for 23-24 days. The female usually incubates during the day, while the male takes most of the night shift. The young are precocial and leave the nest within hours of hatching . They are cared for by both adults for approximately 21 days.

• Clutch Size: 3
• Length of Incubation : 23-24 days
• Days to Fledge : 21
• Number of Broods: 2

Migration

Migratory

Taxonomy

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 24-Jun-1996

Similar Species

Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer

Members of the genus Charadrius

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 60 species and subspecies in this genus:

C. alexandrinus (Western Snowy Plover) · C. alexandrinus alexandrinus (Snowy Plover) · C. alexandrinus dealbatus (Snowy Plover) · C. alexandrinus nivosus (Snowy Plover) · C. alexandrinus tenuirostris (Snowy Plover) · C. alticola (Puna Plover) · C. asiaticus (Caspian Plover) · C. australis (Inland Dotterel) · C. bicinctus (Banded Dotterel) · C. bicinctus bicinctus (Double-Banded Plover) · C. cinctus (Red-Kneed Dotterel) · C. collaris (Collared Plover) · C. dubius (Little Ringed Plover) · C. dubius charadrius (Little Ringed Plover) · C. dubius curonicus (Little Ringed Plover) · C. dubius dubius (Little Ringed Plover) · C. falklandicus (Two-Banded Plover) · C. forbesi (ForbesÌ Plover) · C. hiaticula (Common Ringed Plover) · C. hiaticula hiaticula (Common Ringed Plover) · C. hiaticula tundrae (Common Ringed Plover) · C. javanicus (Javan Sand Plover) · C. leschenaultii (Large Sand Dotterel) · C. leschenaultii leschenaultii (Greater Sand Plover) · C. marginatus (White-Fronted Sand Plover) · C. marginatus marginatus (White-Fronted Sand Plover) · C. melanops (Black-Fronted Plover) · C. melodus (Western Piping Plover) · C. melodus circumcinctus (Piping Plover) · C. melodus melodus (Piping Plover) · C. modestus (Rufous-Chested Dotterel) · C. mongolus (Short-Billed Sand Plover) · C. mongolus mongolus (Mongolian Plover) · C. mongolus stegmanni (Eastern Lesser Sand-Plover) · C. montanus (Mountain Plover) · C. morinellus (Eurasian Dotterel) · C. novaeseelandiae (Long-Billed Plover) · C. obscurus (Red-Breasted Dotterel) · C. obscurus obscurus (Red-Breasted Dotterel) · C. occidentalis (Snowy Plover) · C. pallidus (Chestnut-Banded Plover) · C. pecuarius (Kittlitz's Sand Plover) · C. pecuarius pecuarius (Kittlitz's Sand Plover) · C. peronii (Malaysian Sand Plover) · C. placidus (Long-Billed Ringed Plover) · C. rubricollis (Hooded Plover) · C. ruficapillus (Red-Capped Dotterel) · C. sanctaehelenae (St. Helena Sand Plover) · C. semipalmatus (Semipalmated Ring Plover) · C. thoracicus (Black-Banded Sand Plover) · C. tricollaris (Three-Banded Plover) · C. tricollaris tricollaris (Three-Banded Plover) · C. venustus (Chestnut-Banded Sand Plover) · C. veredus (Oriental Dotterel) · C. vociferous (Eastern Mew Gull) · C. vociferus (Kildeer Plover) · C. vociferus vociferus (Killdeer) · C. wilsonia (Thick-Billed Plover) · C. wilsonia beldingi (Wilson's Plover) · C. wilsonia wilsonia (Wilson's Plover)

More Info

• Search for Pictures: images.google.com
• Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
• Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
• Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books

Further Reading

• Annual report / Albany: University of the State of New York, 1902-1918. url p. 356.
• Beached marine birds and mammals of the North American West Coast: a manual for their census and identification / by David G. Ainley. .. [et al.] Pt. Reyes Bird Observatory; with drawings by Helen C. Strong; performed for National Coastal Ecosystems Team, Office of Biological Services, Fish and Wildlife Service [Washington, D.C.]: For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., [1980] url p. 192.
• Bulletin - United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.];1877-1971. url p. 107, p. 110, p. 113.
• Bulletin / Peabody Museum of Natural History. 1955 New Haven: Peabody Museum of Natural History, url p. 96.
• Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. Cambridge, Mass.: The Museum, 1863- url p. 133, p. 176, fig. 2, page 38, p. 655.
• California fish and game. [San Francisco, etc.]: State of California, Resources Agency, Dept. of Fish and Game. url p. 122.
• Catalogue of birds of the Americas and the adjacent islands in Field Museum of Natural History. Charles E. Hellmayr, Boardman Conover. 13 1948 Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1948. url p. 51, p. 72, p. 73, p. 76.
• Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. London, 1874-98. url p. 214.
• Catalogue of the specimens illustrating the osteology of vertebrated animals, recent and extinct, contained in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. London, 1891. url p. 346.
• Check-list of North American birds / prepared by a committee of the American ornithologists' union. Lancaster, Pa.: The Union, 1931. url p. 105.
• Check-list of North American birds, prepared by a committee of the American Ornithologists' Union. New York, American Ornithologists' Union, 1910. url p. 130, p. 130.
• Check-list of North American birds. [Ithaca, N.Y.]1957. url p. 169, p. 660, p. 690.
• Check-list of North American birds: the species of birds of North America from the Arctic through Panama, including the West Indies and Hawaiian Islands / prepared by the Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Orni Lawrence, Kan.: American Ornithologists' Union, 1983. url p. 169.
• Check-list of birds of the world. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1931-1987. url p. 246, p. 254.
• FWS/0BS. [Washington]Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior. url p. 132, p. 173, p. 217, p. 50, p. 7.
• Fauna of New England, 11: list of the aves / by Glover M. Allen. Boston: Society of Natural History, 1909. url p. 88.
• Fishery bulletin. United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Washington, The Service, U.S. Govt Print. Off. url p. 530.
• Insects of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands. New York, The Academy. url p. 352.
• Memoirs of the San Diego Society of Natural History. 3 1968 San Diego, Calif.: The Society, 1931-1989. url figs. 7-8, page 15, fig. 28, page 36.
• New Haven Harbor ecological studies summary report, 1970-1977 / prepared for the United Illuminating Company, New Haven, Connecticut by Normandeau Associates, inc., Bedford, New Hampshire; edited by Andrew J. McCusker, Weldon S. Bosworth. Bedford, N.H.: Normandeau, 1979. url p. 27, p. 28.
• North American fauna. Washington: Fish and Wildlife Service; for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U. S. Govt. Print. Off. url p. 135.
• Occasional papers of the Boston Society of Natural History. Boston, Boston Society of Natural History, 1869-1941. url p. 88.
• Oceanus. Woods Hole, Mass., Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution url p. 39.
• Our living resources: a report to the nation on the distribution, abundance, and health of U.S. plants, animals, and ecosystems / [edited by], Edward T. LaRoe. .. [et al.]. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, National Biological Service, 1995. url p. 516.
• Proceedings of the United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.] url p. 459, p. 490, p. 556, p. 580, p. 661.
• Publications in zoology = Publications en zoologie. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada, National Museum of Natural Sciences, 1970-1982. url p. 65.
• Special scientific report--wildlife / U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. Washington, D.C.: The Service, 1949- url p. 294.
• Syllogeus. Ottawa, National Museum of Natural Sciences, 1972-1995. url p. 14.
• The Auk. Washington, D.C.: American Ornithologists' Union, etc., 1884- url p. 338.
• The Canadian field-naturalist. Ottawa, Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club. url p. 421.
• The birds of El Salvador, by Donald R. Dickey and A. J. Van Rossem. 23 1938 Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1938. url p. 169.
• The birds of North and Middle America: a descriptive catalogue of the higher groups, genera, species, and subspecies of birds known to occur in North America, from the Arctic lands to the Isthmus of Panama, the West Indies and other island Washington: Govt. Print. Off., 1901- url , .
• The code of nomenclature and check-list of North American birds adopted by the American Ornithologists' Union; being the report of the Committee of the Union on Classification and Nomenclature. New York, 1886. url p. 163, p. 163.
• University of Kansas publications, Museum of Natural History. 17 Lawrence, University of Kansas. url p. 658.

Notes

Contributors

• BirdLife International 2004. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 18, 2008.
• BirdLife International 2009. Charadrius wilsonia. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloadedon 31January2012.
• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 and ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 9, 2012.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed March 10, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 7 providers.
• Hines, J. E., Gregory Gough, J. R. Sauer, et al. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
• IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. . Downloaded on January 28, 2012.
• NatureServe. 2003. Downloadable animal data sets. NatureServe Central Databases. Accessed February 6, 2005.
• Parker III, T.A., D.F. Stotz, and J.W. Fitzpatrick, and quot;Ecological and Distributional Databases for Neotropical Birds, and quot; in Neotropical Birds: Ecology and Conservation, by D.F. Stotz, T.A. Parker III, J.W. Fitzpatrick, and D.K. Moskovits (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996). ISBN 0-226-64676-9.
• Peterson, Alan P. Zoological Nomenclature Resource. Accessed June 19, 2009.
• Ruggiero M., Gordon D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Nicolson D. (2011). The Catalogue of Life Taxonomic Classification, Edition 2, Part A. In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D., eds). DVD; Species 2000: Reading, UK.
• Sauer, J. R., J. E. Hines, and J. Fallon. 2005. The North American Breeding Bird Survey, Results and Analysis 1966 - 2004. Version 2005.2. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD
• Sauer, J. R., S. Schwartz, and B. Hoover. 1996. The Christmas Bird Count Home Page. Version 95.1. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD
• The Georgia Museum of Natural History and Georgia Department of Natural Resources

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 10, 2008:

• Avian Knowledge Network: eBird
• Avian Knowledge Network: Great Backyard Bird Count
• Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Provincial Museum of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. Birds (Aves)
• New Brunswick Museum: NBM birds
• Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History: Santa Barbara Musem of Natural History
• UNIBIO, IBUNAM: CNAV/Coleccion Nacional de Aves
• University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (UMMZ): Bird specimens

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 8227
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-176518
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 2498402
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 176517
• IUCN ID: 199420
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: ABNNB03040
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 911

Footnotes

1. Mean = 28.640 meters (93.963 feet), Standard Deviation = 44.060 based on 111,722 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.