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Pacific Golden Plover (Pluvialis fulva) Alternate name(s): "Lesser Golden Plover", "Eastern Golden Plover" Size: 24-26 cm; wing span 60-72 cm Body mass: 100-230 g Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.20-0.35

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Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Pacific Golden Plovers are relatively small waders. Their plumage is highly cryptic. When seen in Australia, they are usually, but not always, in eclipse plumage. During the non-breeding season the sides of the head are creamy, with wide greyish-brown eye stripes. The throat is creamy, while the sides and nape of the neck and the chest and flanks are creamy with grey-brown streaks. The belly, vent and undertail coverts are off-white. During the breeding season their front (face below the eyes, front and sides of the neck, chest, belly and vent) is all-black, with white lining from the forehead via the eyebrow along the sides to the front of the wings. The back (cap, nape of the neck, mantle upperwings and uppertail) is mottled golden-brown and black. The bill is dull black, the legs and feet are dark-grey. Twitcher's tip In Australia, Pacific Golden Plovers are usually only seen in non-breeding or transitional plumage. Compared to Grey Plovers their back appears lighter, more golden, and the contrast between back and front is less pronounced. Their body is slimmer, the head smaller and the neck longer than those of Grey Plovers. The correct identification of waders ("shorebirds"), e.g. of the Calidris, Tringa, Actitis and related families or of the Charadrius, Pluvialis and related genera in the field can be quite tricky. We have therefore made an attempt to give some advice HERE.

Taxonomy, classification See Pacific Golden Plover at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Pacific Golden Plover is available HERE . Pacific Golden Plovers are a strongly migratory species. They breed in the Arctic tundra of far-northern Asia and in western Alaska. They spend the northern winters in South Asia, South-east Asia, Oceania and Australasia, including New Zealand. A small part of the Alaskan population spends the winters in California or Hawaii. Thereby, outside the breeding season they can be found on basically all Pacific islands. Pacific Golden Plovers are non-breeding migrants to Australia from the North. During their non-breeding season they populate the entire Australian seaboard, including Bass Strait and most offshore islands. Apart from occasional sightings in the Murray-Darling Basin (and in the Lake Eyre Basin), in particular after substantial inland rain, they are not found in the interior of the continent. Pacific Golden Plovers are mostly found around saltwater and brackish water, e.g. along beaches and in mangrove marshes and mudflat. They are only rarely found around fresh water.

Sightings Click here for sighting information We have first seen Pacific Golden Plovers in non-breeding plumage in a mangrove marsh at the Urunga board walk, Urunga Heads, NSW, in January 2011. In September 2011 a single Pacific Golden Plover was seen at Old Bar, NSW, in a saltmarsh of the Manning River estuary. A Pacific Golden Plover was spotted by C. Hayne in Ballina, NSW, in January 2013. B. Hensen reports spotting Pacific Golden Plovers at Nightcliff, Darwin, NT, in March 2013, and at Lee Point, Darwin, NT, in July 2018. M. Mearns reports spotting Pacific Golden Plovers on Lady Elliot Island, near Agnes Water, QLD, in January 2016. M. Eaton reports finding Pacific Golden Plovers semi-regularly during their non-breeding season in various locations in coastal south-eastern QLD. Others were found at the Stockton Sandspit, Hunter Wetlands NP, Newcastle, NSW, in December 2023. B. Hensen reports finding Pacific Golden Plovers near Newell Beach, QLD, in November 2018. M. Eaton found a Pacific Golden Plover in breeding plumage at Buffalo Creek beach, Darwin, NT, in July 2020. In February 2023, we found a small number of Pacific Golden Plovers in an ephemeral wetland ca. 30 km S of Mungindi, NSW, which is far inland.

Photos

ADULT

Sex unknown

BREEDING

Frontal view of a Pacific Golden Plover in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

Near-lateral view of a Pacific Golden Plover in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Buffalo Creek beach, Darwin, NT, July 2020]

Lateral view of a Pacific Golden Plover in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

Dorsal view of a Pacific Golden Plover in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

Near-frontal view of a Pacific Golden Plover in near-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Nightcliff, Darwin, NT, March 2013]

Near-lateral view of a Pacific Golden Plover in transitional plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Nudgee Beach, QLD, March 2018]

Lateral view of a Pacific Golden Plover in transitional plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Nudgee Beach, QLD, March 2018]

Near-dorsal view of a Pacific Golden Plover in transitional plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Nudgee Beach, QLD, March 2018]

Dorsal view of a Pacific Golden Plover in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Nudgee Beach, QLD, March 2018]

Near-lateral view of a Pacific Golden Plover in breeding plumage in flight (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Lee Point, Darwin, NT, July 2018]

NON-BREEDING

Frontal view of a Pacific Golden Plover in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Hunter Wetlands NP, Newcastle, NSW, December 2023]

Near-frontal view of a Pacific Golden Plover in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Lake Clarendon, QLD, October 2018]

Near-lateral view of a Pacific Golden Plover in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Caloundra Headland, QLD, January 2018]

Near-frontal view of a Pacific Golden Plover in non-breeding plumage looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Nudgee Beach, QLD, February 2018]

Near-lateral view of a Pacific Golden Plover in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Hunter Wetlands NP, Newcastle, NSW, December 2023]

Lateral view of a Pacific Golden Plover in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Caloundra Headland, QLD, January 2018]

Lateral view of a Pacific Golden Plover in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Lady Elliot Island, near Agnes Water, QLD, January 2016]

Lateral view of a Pacific Golden Plover in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Lady Elliot Island, near Agnes Water, QLD, January 2016]

Lateral view of a Pacific Golden Plover in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Lady Elliot Island, near Agnes Water, QLD, January 2016]

Lateral view of a Pacific Golden Plover in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Nightcliff, Darwin, NT, March 2013]

Lateral view of a Pacific Golden Plover in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Nudgee Beach, QLD, February 2018]

Lateral view of two Pacific Golden Plovers in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Lake Clarendon, QLD, October 2018]

Near-dorsal view of a Pacific Golden Plover in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Lady Elliot Island, near Agnes Water, QLD, January 2016]

Near-dorsal view of a Pacific Golden Plover in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Lady Elliot Island, near Agnes Water, QLD, January 2016]

Near-dorsal view of a Pacific Golden Plover in non-breeding plumage looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Hunter Wetlands NP, Newcastle, NSW, December 2023]

Direct comparison of a Pacific Golden Plover in non-breeding plumage, left, and a Grey Plover, also in non-breeding plumage, right (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Nightcliff, Darwin, NT, November 2018]

Lateral/ventral view of part of a flock of about 30 Pacific Golden Plovers in non-breeding plumage in flight
(photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Lockhart River, QLD, November 2018]

Near-dorsal/ventral view of two moulting Pacific Golden Plovers in flight
[Old Bar, NSW, July 2013]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: ?

Mobility: Migratory

Elementary unit: Solitary/mob

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

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