European Golden-Plover

Overview

European Golden-Plover: Largest of the golden plovers, showing black crown, throat, neck and upperparts with small bright gold spotting. White band on forehead runs down sides of neck and along flank; black underparts are trimmed in white. Undertail is white and the legs are short and dark gray.

Range and Habitat

European Golden-Plover: Native to the trunda regions of the northern hemisphere, accidental in Newfoundland. Prefers open ground, pastures and tundra.

INTERESTING FACTS

The American Golden-Plover makes one of the longest migratory journeys of any shorebird.
In the 19th century it disappeared as a breeding bird in Poland and now only occurs there as a migrant; its breeding population in Central Europe apparently was a relic of the last ice age.
A group of plovers has many collective nouns, including a "brace", "congregation", "deceit", "ponderance" and "wing" of plovers.

The European Golden-Plover, which is also known as the Eurasian Golden Plover, is rated at Least Concern at this time. In 2000 the European Golden-Plover was rated as Lower Risk. That rating has since changed as a result of the bird's range and population, which are both fairly large. The population of the European Golden-Plover is about 2 million individual birds. The range of the European Golden-Plover is about 10 million square kilometers. This bird is native to both Europe and Asia. It is also sometimes a visitor to the Middle East and North America.