American Golden-Plover

About the American Golden-Plover

A sleek, long-winged plover and a champion of long-distance migration, the American Golden-Plover is spangled above with gold and black, and in breeding plumage shows a striking black face and belly bordered by a bold white stripe. In fall and winter it fades to a plainer buff-and-brown, but always looks trim and elegant.

These plovers feed on insects, invertebrates, and berries, running and pausing across open ground, and they undertake one of the great migrations in the bird world - a vast loop between Arctic breeding grounds and southern South America.

In Texas the American Golden-Plover is a migrant, passing through mainly in spring - often in impressive numbers - on short-grass prairies, plowed fields, sod farms, and flooded pastures, especially in the eastern and coastal parts of the state.

A note from behind the lens: spring migration on open, grassy fields is the time. Work slowly from a vehicle or along a field edge, get low, and catch a spangled bird in golden light against the green - or a whole scattered flock foraging across the flats.