Wilson's Plover

Overview

Wilson's Plover: Medium plover, gray-brown upperparts and cap. Underparts are white except for black upper breast band. Head has white forehead patch edged in black and white eyebrows joining above bill. Wings are dark with white stripes visible in flight. White tail with faint brown central strip and dark tip.

Range and Habitat

Wilson's Plover: Breeds in the U.S. along the Atlantic coast from Maryland to Florida, and along the Gulf Coast from Florida to south Texas. Spends winters along both coasts of Florida and along the coast of south Texas. Resident throughout Central America and the Caribbean to northern South America. Preferred habitats include open sand or shell beaches and tidal mudflats.

INTERESTING FACTS

Wilson's Plover is named for early ornithologist Alexander Wilson, who collected the type specimen in May 1813 at Cape May, NJ, where this species is (and was) only a rare visitor. No known trends in populations. Listed as threatened or endangered in some states.
They will resort to feigning injury, such as a broken wing, to distract potential predators.
A group of plovers has many collective nouns, including a "brace", "congregation", "deceit", "ponderance" and "wing" of plovers.

The Wilson's Plover has a large range reaching up to about 850,000 square kilometers. This bird can be found primarily in North America, the Caribbean, and parts of Central and South America including Canada, the United States and Mexico, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Venezuela, Virgin Islands and a vagrant population in Chile. This is a marine bird found in intertidal areas including sandy shorline and beaches as well as mud and salt flats. The global population of this species has not been quantified, and it is referred to as “uncommon” in portions of its range. Regardless of this, population tr