Western Snowy Plover

Description:

The western snowy plover (Charadrius nivosus) is a small wader in the plover bird family. It breeds in Ecuador, Peru, Chile, the southern and western USA and the Caribbean. Although it was long considered to be a subspecies of the Kentish plover, recent genetic research strongly suggests it should be regarded as a distinct species, and both the American Ornithologists' Union and the International Ornithological Congress recognise it as such. The western snowy plover is 15–17 cm (5.9–6.7 in) long. It is smaller, paler, longer-legged and thinner-billed than ringed plover or semipalmated plover. Its breast band is never complete, and usually just appears as dark lateral patches on the sides of the breast. The snowy plover's upperparts are greyish brown and the underparts white in all plumages. The breast markings are black in summer adults, otherwise brown. Breeding males of some races have a black forehead bar and a black mask through the eye. The legs are black. In flight, the flight feathers are blackish with a strong white wing bar. The flight call is a sharp bip. Wikipeida

Habitat:

Beach along Jetty Road, Moss Landing, CA.