CLIPBOARD : BREEDING BIRDS: SNOWY PLOVER (Charadrius alexandrinus)

Description: The plover is a compact, thick-necked wading bird with slim pigeon-like bill and large eyes. The body is pale, sandy-colored above and white below. It has dark patches on the eyes, crown and partially across its breast. Tail feathers have black tips. Legs and beak are grayish or black. Females and juveniles may lack dark plumage. Length: 6 1/2 inches.

Habitat: Beaches, salt flats and dry mud flats. Confirmed nest sitings at Talbert Marsh in Huntington Beach.

Diet: Crustaceans, mollusks, fish, insects and worms.

Displays: In courtship, male points bill in a scraping display of the nest. He raises a wing, fluffs his throat feathers. Pair then copulates at the nest.

Nest: Female scrapes nest in mud, often in the open, amid tufts of grass. Lined with twigs and bits of shells, rocks and debris. Male makes one or two extra scrapes.

Eggs: Orange-yellow with black markings; slightly longer than an inch.

Call: A low krut or a whistled pe-wee-ah .

Notes: Male incubates eggs 10% of the day and all night. Birds forage using “run and peck” method of visual foraging and “pattering,” in which prey is scared out of still waters and tall grass by the bird vibrating its leg.

Breeding bird atlas: To report bird breeding activity in your neighborhood, or to get information on the breeding bird atlas, call Sea and Sage Audubon Society members Sylvia Gallagher, (714) 962-8990, or Nancy Kenyon, (714) 786-3160.

Note: Map is divided into 5-kilometer squares so that Audubon Society volunteers can more easily survey areas on a regular basis.

Sources: Sea and Sage Audubon Society; “The Birder’s Handbook,” Ehrlich, Dobkin and Wheye, Fireside Books (1988); “Field Guide to the Birds of North America,” National Geographic Society (1987); “Birds of Southern California: Status and Distribution,” Garrett and Dunn, Los Angeles Audubon Society (1981).