Pacific Golden-Plover

Description:

Medium-sized to large shorebird. Legs moderately long. Neck short. Bill short. Head large and rounded. Golden and black speckled back. In breeding plumage, black from face to lower belly.

Habitat:

Grassy field.

Notes:

These lanky shorebirds are champion long-distance flyers. They power through the nearly 2,500 miles from their breeding grounds in Alaska to the Hawaiian Islands in about two days, nonstop. They lack the waterproofing on their feathers that seabirds have, so they don’t rest on the ocean. A few birds winter in California, but the majority winter throughout the South Pacific, from Hawaii down to New Zealand and across to Asia. Fossils found on Oahu reveal the plovers have been making the trip for 120,000 years!