Family:
The American golden plover is a medium-sized, elegant shorebird with long, slender wings and a narrow bill. The breeding male has gold and black speckled upperparts, black underparts, and a broad white stripe on the head and neck that extends to the top of the breast. The rest of the face is black. The female looks similar but has a pale, mottled face.
The non-breeding American golden plover has grey-brown upperparts, paler underparts, and a white eyebrow.
It looks similar to the black-belled plover, but lacks the white rump and wing stripe, with which it sometimes forms flocks.
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American golden plovers eats insects, worms, and spiders, as well as berries, seeds, and leaves in the summer. On coasts, it will also eat crustaceans and molluscs.
The American golden plover breeds in Arctic tundra from northern Canada and Alaska in dry open areas. It makes one of the longest migratory journeys of over 40,000 km to South America. Of this about 4,000 km are spent over the ocean where it cannot stop to feed or drink.
During migration it can be found on prairies, flooded pastures, ploughed fields, mudflats, and beaches.
