Pacific golden-plover
Pluvialis fulva
Identification Tips:
- Length: 9? inches
- Medium-sized, long-winged shorebird
- No wing stripe
- Underwing coverts and axillars gray
- Wingtips extend beyond tail
- Dark rump
- Short, fairly thin, dark bill
- Legs black
Adult alternate
- Black face, throat, breast and belly
- White border to black face and throat extends along flanks to undertail
coverts
- Gold and black spangled crown, nape, back, and wings
Adult basic
- Gray-brown upperparts with paler edging and strongly tinged with yellow
- Yellow supercilium
- Breast and belly pale gray
Juvenile
- Similar to adult basic but upperparts have "cleaner" appearance and more
yellow spotting
- Finely streaked breast
Similar species:
The Black-bellied Plover is quite similar to the Pacific Golden-Plover
but has black axillaries, white wing stripe, thicker bill, and white rump.
In most plumages the Black-bellied is distinctly grayer without any gold
coloration. American Golden-Plover is very similar but has black flanks and
undertail coverts in breeding plumage. In basic and juvenal plumage, Pacific
has yellower head and neck, especially the supercilium. Rare European
Golden-Plover has shorter wingtips that barely reach the end of the tail and
white axillars and underwings.
Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.