Snowly Plover Fact and Pictures

Snowy plovers are small shorebirds that dash in and out of waves at the beach. While it looks like they are playing, these chunky little white birds are actually chasing after a meal of small insects and crustaceans. These small birds have rounded heads with steep foreheads and short necks. Their bills are black and they have large eyes. They have short black legs and dark gray to black feet.

As plovers mature, their feathers change. Typically, their feathers are snowy white, hence their name, with black, brown, and gray markings on wings and head. They have patches of brown or black on their shoulders. Breeding males have a dark bar across their white forehead and a dark line which extends from bill to ear.

Snowy plovers feast on beetles, flies, marine worms, crabs, clams, sand hoppers, seeds, and aquatic insects. While they search for food plovers will run, stop, look, and then peck and poke at plants and the sand.

Plovers will run into swarms of flies with their bills open and snapping, trying to grab a bite.

They nest on the sand on sparsely vegetated coastal beaches and lakeshores and also nest near man-made wastewater ponds and reservoirs. They often line their sand nests with seashells. Many sandy beaches are raked to make them attractive to humans and beach grasses are planted to control beach erosion. As a result, plovers' breeding numbers have decreased as their beach habitats and breeding areas are used for fun and recreation. Snowy plovers are listed as endangered in Mississippi, and as threatened along the Florida Gulf Coast and the Pacific coast. They are also affected when new species move into their territory.On the Gulf Coast in Florida, most plover nests are located on coastal sandy beaches and barrier islands. Some plovers mate with one male for life, but in western North America females leave their broods soon after hatching, mate with a different male, and initiate another nest hundreds of miles away. Both parents will take care of the large eggs, but females often take over day duty and the males take over at night. Newly hatched snowy plover chicks look like fluffy white cotton balls

Fast Facts:
The scientific name for snowy plover is Charadrius alexandrinus.

Chicks and adults are able to swim.

They are also known as the Kentish plover in Europe and Asia.

They are usually about 6 to 6.75 inches (15 to 17 centimeters) long and weigh 1 to 2 ounces (28 to 57 grams).

Most snowy plovers live for 2.7 years.