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education: birds of georgia American Golden-Plover, Pluvialis dominica Status: Uncommon spring, 10 Mar (1982, 1984) - 30 Apr (1961), and fall, 16 Aug (1980) - 2 Dec (1962), transient statewide but rare in Mountains; accidental in winter on Sapelo Is. CBC 29 Dec 1963 and 30 Dec 1967. High count: 42 at DeKalb Airport, DeKalb, 3 Apr 1987 (O 52:53) (Beaton et al., 2003). Habitat: Breeding: Nests mainly on arctic and subarctic tundra, sometimes on montane tundra. Usually chooses sparse, low vegetation on higher, well-drained rocky slopes on Seward Peninsula. Elsewhere, generally nests on similar rocky, dry tundra (Montgomerie at al., 1983) but will less frequently use moist habitat with taller vegetation (Miller et al., 1985). Migration: Uses a variety of habitats including native prairie, pastures, tilled farmland, burned fields, golf courses, airports, mudflats, shorelines, estuaries, and beaches. In GA, found in expanses of short grass; often on sod farms; also on polo field, around farm ponds, and at Andrews Island (Glynn). Tundra ridges and hills without snow are important in early spring as migration begins. Winter: Mostly in Rio de la Plata grasslands consisting of pampas in e.central Argentina and in campos in Uruguay and s. Brazil. Reduction of native grasslands by agricultural development has forced the species to use grazed grasslands (Blanco et al., 1993) (Johnson et al. 1996). Diet: Invertebrates, mainly terrestrial, but some freshwater and marine; also berries, leaves, and seeds. On breeding grounds near Churchill, Manitoba, forages selectively for larger prey items (Baker 1977). Major food items include grasshoppers, ants, beetles, grubs, cutworms, wireworms, small mollusks and crustaceans, spiders, crowberries, and blueberries. Berries are particularly important spring and fall. Birds arriving in spring may find crowberries from the previous fall the only available good item. In fall, new berry crop used on migration (Mackay 1891). Foraging microhabitat: Generally prefers habitat where plant cover is short or absent, allowing ease of movement and a clear field of vision. Foraging is by repeated sequence of run-stop-run. Prey is captured at stop. On migration in GA, species is found almost exclusively in such habitat (Johnson and Connors 1996). Identification: A medium-sized plover (L 10.5 in; WS 26 in; WT 5 oz) (Sibley, D 2000). Sexes mildly dimorphic. Plumage descriptions for species often compared to plumage of Pacific Golden-Plover for which there is no Georgia record. Adult Male Breeding: Background color dark gray-brown on crown, nape, mantle, scapulars, tertials, and wing-coverts with spots and fringes of feathers mostly yellow, some buffy. Broad continuous stripe from forehead through supercilia and down sides of neck to wide patches on the upper breast. Base of chin, throat, cheeks, medial chest and breast, sides, flanks, belly and undertail black. Primaries dark gray-brown. rectrices barred light-dark gray brown. Bare parts black. Adult Female Breeding: Similar to male except that black feathers of face and underparts mottled with whitish, making the white head-neck stripe less well defined than in male. Adult Non-breeding (Sep-Apr): This plumage is seen in GA in fall since the molt into non-breeding plumage starts during incubation on the breeding grounds and is complete long before they reach Georgia in September. Overall appearance gray and white. Prominent white supercilium with contrasting cap dark gray-brown; sides of neck grayish with auriculars darker and lores smudged with gray; upperparts including crown dark grayish-brown with whitish, buff or yellow spots (but never as much yellow as in Pacific Golden-Plover); chest, breast, sides and flanks grayish brown with slight wash of pale yellow; belly and undertail coverts whitish. In flight, rump and tail dark and underwing gray. Juvenile: Similar to adult non-breeding. Gray and white overall with mostly white spots on back and wings. Chest gray, mottled and spotted with grayish brown. Distinguishing American Golden Plover from Pacific Golden Plover: In American Golden-Plover in breeding plumage, the white head-neck stripe ends abruptly at the upper breast, but it continues diffusely along the sides of Pacific Golden Plover. Best distinguishing mark in all plumages is relative length of primary extension (beyond tertials). In American Golden Plover, there are usually 4-5 primary tips visible beyond the tertials on the folded wing, but in Pacific Golden Plover there are only 3. In Pacific Golden Plover, the wings are even with or extend slightly beyond the tail. In American Golden Plover, the wings extend well beyond the tail. Other differences in structure such as leg length are difficult to ascertain on a single bird. In fall in GA, Pacific Golden Plover will show much more golden spotting on the back and wings than American Golden Plover, in which most of the spotting looks whitish (Johnson and Connors, 1996). Migration: An exceedingly long distance migrant making non-stop flights over water from the arctic tundra or points south to grasslands in the southern hemisphere. Peak fall migration in Atlantic Provinces of Canada 26 Jul- 30 Aug (Morrison et al. 1994). Juveniles linger in northerly area until late Aug- early Oct, and late transients in e North America are probably all juveniles (Paulson and Lee 1992). Most birds follow an elliptical migratory pattern moving south offshore nonstop over the Atlantic in fall and back through the mid-continent in spring ( e TX, LA, AR, MO, KS, NE, w IO, w MN, SD, ND, then angling nw to the breeding grounds on the arctic tundra. Primary breeding grounds extend from ne Manitoba across Northwest Territories, including its major islands, and south through the Yukon to nw British Columbia, west through n and central Alaska, including entire Seward Peninsula and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Bad weather may force birds to follow the coast or move inland in fall. Large numbers of adult fall migrants leave directly form Hudson and James Bays in central Canada or from New England coast and fly non-stop over water to South America. Many birds (especially juveniles) move through the Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio river valleys and some move through the eastern states, including Georgia, and some hug the Atlantic coast. A few presumably westerly breeders move through the mountain west or along the Pacific coast before flying to South America. Many juveniles take a more leisurely route, hopping from island to island in the Caribbean. Birds arrive from late Aug to Dec on primary wintering grounds on grasslands, coastal and inland wetlands, and farmlands from s Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul), Paraguay, s Bolivia, and Chile (to Santiago), south through Uruguay and Argentina to Patagonia. Spring migration begins late Jan, with most birds leaving in Feb and some as late as the end of Apr (Sick 1993). First arrivals in TX, LA, and FL late Feb-early with peak arrivals in mid-continent (KS e to KY and n to ND and MN) in Apr (Johnson and Connors). Conservation: Population currently stable and species considered unthreatened. In 18 th and early 19 th centuries, market hunting and excessive and unregulated sport killing caused major decline in population. An estimated 48,000 were killed in one day near New Orleans, LA in spring 1821 (J. Audubon in Bent 1929). Protected by law in most of Western Hemisphere at present, but hunting still occurs in Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and Barbados. Most of breeding range is remote, intact and unspoiled by humans, but oil spills on north slope of Alaska pose a threat as would opening Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. On winter range few birds use agricultural areas and use mostly "flooding pampa" lowlands grazed by cattle. Any major modification of such grassland habitat by conversion to agriculture would pose a serious threat to the species (Blanco et al. 1993). In some areas of GA, development of sod farms has provided good migration habitat. Literature cited: Baker, M.C. 1977. Shorebird food habits in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Condor 79: 56-62. Bent, A.C. 1929. Life histories of North American shorebirds. Pt. 2. U.S. Natl. Mus. Bull. 146. Blanco, D., R. Banchs and P. Canevari. 1993. Critical sites for the Eskimo Curlew (Numenius borealis) and other nearctic grassland shorebirds in Argentina and Uruguay. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv. Rep. Wetlands for the Americas, Manomet, MA, and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Johnson, Oscar W., and Peter G. Connors. 1996. American Golden-Plover (Pluvialis domenica). The Birds of North America Online) A. Poole, Ed). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna .birds. cornell.edu/bna/species/201. Mackay, G.H. 1891. The habits of the golden plover (Charadrius domenicus) in Massachusetts. Auk 8: 17-24. Miller, P.A., C.S. Moitoret and M.A. Masteller. 1985. Species accounts of migratory birds at three study areas on the coastal plain of the Arctic NWR Alaska, 1984. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., Fairbanks, AK. Montgomerie, R.D., R.V Cartar, R. McLaughlin and B. Lyon. 1983. Birds of Sarcpa Lake, Melville Peninsula, Northwest Territories: breeding phenologies, densities, and biogeography. Arctic 36: 65-75. Morrison, R.I.G., C. Downes, and B. Collins. 1994. Population trends of shorebirds on fall migration in eastern Canada 1974-1991. Wilson Bull. 106: 431-447. Paulson, D.R., and D.S. Lee. 1992. Wintering of Lesser Golden-Plover in e. North America. Journal of Field Ornithol. 63:121-128. Sick, H. 1993. Birds in Brazil: a national history. Princeton Univ. Press. Princeton, NJ.
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