Pacific Golden Plover

Pluvialis fulva (Gmelin, JF, 1789)

Pacific Golden Plover, Pluvialis fulva, breeds in Arctic mainland Russia and subarctic eastern Russia, as well as western Alaska, and spends the nonbreeding months across the coastal Horn of Africa, the Indian subcontinent, south-east Asia, the Indonesian Archipelago, Taiwan, the Philippines, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Melanesia, Micronesia and eastern Polynesia. It is a migratory shorebird that moves widely over the Pacific. In breeding plumage, the male shows gold and black spotting on the crown, back and wings, with a black face, neck and breast edged in white; the female is similar, but with a less distinct breast pattern.

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Charadriidae — Plovers

Breeding range

Palearctic: Arctic mainland Russia and subarctic e Russia and w Alaska: Yamal Pen. (nc Siberia) to Chukotskiy Pen., n Kamchatka and n Sea of Okhotsk (e Siberia), and Wrangel I. (n of ne Siberia); Chukchi and Bering Sea coasts of w Alaska and satellites, including St. Lawrence I. (n Bering Sea)

Nonbreeding range

coastal Horn of Africa, Indian subcontinent, se Asia, Indonesian Arch., Taiwan, Philippines, New Guinea region, Australia, New Zealand region, Melanesia, Micronesia to e Polynesia; widely vagrant elsewhere