Birds · Charadriiformes · Charadriidae

Pacific Golden Plover

Pluvialis fulva

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The Pacific golden plover breeds on the Arctic tundra of Siberia and Alaska and spends the winter spread across the Pacific and South-East Asia, from Hawaii to Australia. It is a very long-distance migrant: those that winter in Hawaii cross more than 4,500 kilometres of open ocean without a single stop. It shows extraordinary fidelity to its wintering grounds, and the same individual returns year after year to the same garden or the same field.

Weight

100 g – 190 g

Size

23 cm – 26 cm

Lifespan

20 years

Diet

Insectivore

Feeds mainly on insects and other invertebrates.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

TundraOceanGrasslandIslandsInsectivore Diurnal Bird Tundra Ocean Grassland Islands

30countries 26parks10same family

Fun facts

It crosses the 4,500 kilometres of ocean between Alaska and Hawaii without stopping, a continuous flight of about fifty hours over open water on which it cannot land at any point.
It returns to exactly the same spot every winter: there are ringed individuals that have come back for more than twenty years running to the same garden or the same Hawaiian golf course.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
Habitat & environment: Siberian and Alaskan Arctic tundra for breeding; beaches, grassland and wetlands of the Indo-Pacific for wintering
Sexual maturity: 12 months
Gestation / incubation: 26 days of incubation
Litter / clutch size: 4 eggs

Sources consulted: https://www.iucnredlist.org/ | https://animaldiversity.org/ | https://es.wikipedia.org/