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Pluvialis fulva (Pacific golden
plover, Asiatic golden plover)
Asiatiese goue strandkiewiet [Afrikaans]; Kleine
goudplevier [Dutch]; Pluvier fauve [French]; Wanderregenpfeifer [German];
Tarambola-dourada-siberiana [Portuguese]
Life
> Eukaryotes >
Opisthokonta
> Metazoa (animals) >
Bilateria >
Deuterostomia > Chordata >
Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates) > Gnathostomata (jawed
vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class:
Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned
fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial
vertebrates) > Tetrapoda
(four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota >
Reptilia (reptiles) >
Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria >
Dinosauria
(dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) >
Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves
(birds) >
Order: Charadriiformes > Family: Charadriidae
> Genus: Pluvialis
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Pacific golden plover, South Africa. [photo
Neil Gray
©] |
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Distribution and habitat
Breeds in the Siberian tundra from the Yamal Peninsula to
western Alaska, heading south in the non-breeding season to southern Asia,
Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Ocean islands, while it is a rare
summer vagrant to Europe and southern Africa. Here it has been sighted at
coastal central Namibia, south-western Zimbabwe and southern South Africa,
generally more regularly recorded than the
American golden plover. It generally prefers coastal sand or mud flats,
reefs, lagoons, beaches and nearby open areas, such as dunes, ploughed fields
and short grass fields.
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Distribution of Pacific golden plover in southern Africa,
based on statistical smoothing of the records from first SA Bird Atlas
Project (©
Animal Demography unit, University of
Cape Town; smoothing by Birgit Erni and Francesca Little). Colours range
from dark blue (most common) through to yellow (least common).
See here for the latest distribution
from the SABAP2. |
Food
Forages by day and night, mainly using the typical
run-stop-search technique of plovers.
References
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Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts
- Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker
Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.
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