Grey Plover

Pluvialis squatarola (Linnaeus, 1758)

Grey Plover, Pluvialis squatarola, breeds on Arctic coasts and islands in North America and the Palearctic, and spends the non-breeding season on temperate to tropical coasts worldwide apart from remote islands. It is a plover of the Charadriidae family, first described by Linnaeus in 1758. In all plumages, the black underwing and flank feathers help separate it in flight from other Pluvialis species, while on the ground its bill is larger and heavier. It nests on open tundra in a shallow scrape, and young birds do not breed until they are two years old.

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Charadriidae — Plovers

Breeding range

North America, Palearctic: high (locally low) Arctic coasts and is. (except Ellesmere I., Greenland, Scandinavia and is. from Svalbard to Severnaya Zemlya)

Nonbreeding range

Worldwide, temperate to tropical coasts (except remote is.)