Piping plover Charadrius melodus

Identification Tips:

• Length: 5.5 inches
• Small shorebird
• Short, stubby bill
• Upperparts pale gray
• Underparts white
• White collar
• Orange legs

Adult alternate

• Thin black breast band
• Orange base to dark bill
• White forehead
• Black line from eye to eye across forehead
• Gray crown

Adult basic

• Breast band paler and not complete
• Dark bill

Juvenile

• Similar to adult in basic plumage
• Upperparts faintly fringed with white

Similar species:

The pale gray upperparts distinguish the Piping Plover from all other small plovers except the Snowy Plover. The Snowy Plover has a different face pattern in alternate plumage and dark legs and a longer, thinner bill in basic and juvenile plumages.

Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.