Snowy Plover
Snowy Plover: Small plover, pale brown upperparts, white underparts. Dark patches on either side of upper breast (partial breast band), behind eye, and on white forehead. Bill, legs, and feet are black. Wings have white stripes visible in flight. Dark tail has white edges. Dark gray legs and feet.
● Song:
"krut", "ku-wheet"
● Foraging & Feeding:
Snowy Plover: Feeds on small crustaceans and soft-bodied invertebrates. Forages in wet sand and surf-cast kelp, in dry, sandy areas above the high tide, on saltpans, on spoil sites, and along the edges of salt marshes, salt ponds, and lagoons; sometimes probes in sand or gleans from vegetation.
● Breeding & nesting:
Snowy Plover: Two or three pale buff eggs with black or gray marks and spots are laid in a shallow ground depression lined with shell fragments or grass. Nest is built by the male. Both male and female incubate eggs for 24 to 32 days. Young fly at 26 to 31 days; raises one or two broods per year.
● Similar species:
Snowy Plover: Semipalmated Plover is darker and has complete breast band. Piping Plover has yellow legs, red eye-ring, complete breast band (in breeding plumage), and orange-based bill.