Editing Semipalmated plover

{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) Heislerville Wildlife Management Area, New Jersey, USA.jpg
| image_caption = Breeding plumage in Heislerville, [[New Jersey]].
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref>{{cite iucn|url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22693764/0 |title=''Charadrius semipalmatus'' |author=BirdLife International |author-link=BirdLife International |year=2012 |access-date=26 November 2013}}</ref>
| genus = Charadrius
| species = semipalmatus
| authority = [[Charles Lucien Bonaparte|Bonaparte]], 1825
| synonyms =
''Charadrius hiaticula semipalmatus''
| range_map = Charadrius semipalmatus map.svg
}}

The '''semipalmated plover''' ('''''Charadrius semipalmatus''''') is a small [[plover]]. ''Charadrius'' is a [[Late Latin]] word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century [[Vulgate]]. It derives from [[Ancient Greek]] ''kharadrios'' a bird found in ravines and river valleys (''kharadra'', "ravine"). The specific ''semipalmatus'' is  [[Latin]] and comes from  ''semi'', "half" and ''palma'', "palm". Like the English name, this refers to its only partially webbed feet.<ref name=job>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n99 99], 353}}</ref>

==Description==
This species weighs a mean 47.4 g (1.7 oz.) for males and 46.1 g (1.6 oz.) for females, with body masses ranging from 37.6-54.7 g (1.3-1.9 oz.).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dunning |first=John B. |title=CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses |date=2008 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-4200-6444-5 |edition=2nd |pages=102}}</ref> and measures {{convert|17|-|19|cm|in|abbr=on}} in length with a {{convert|12|-|13|cm|in|abbr=on}} mean wing length.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Semipalmated plover |url=https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/semipalmated-plover |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute |language=en}}</ref> Adults have a grey-brown back and wings, a white belly, and a white breast with one black neckband. They have a brown cap, a white forehead, a black mask around the eyes and a short orange and black bill.
[[File:Charadrius semipalmatus - Semipalmated Plover - XC109656.ogg|right|thumb|Vocalization]]

==Habitat==
Their breeding habitat is open ground on beaches or flats across northern [[Canada]] and [[Alaska]]. They nest on the ground in an open area with little or no plant growth.

They are [[bird migration|migratory]] and winter in coastal areas of the southern [[United States]], the [[Caribbean]] and much of [[South America]]. They are extremely rare vagrants to western Europe, and have been found in [[Tierra del Fuego]] and the [[Isles of Scilly]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Coomber|first=Richard|title=Birds of the World|year=1991|publisher=Colour Library Books Ltd.|location=Godalming, Surrey|isbn=0862838061|pages=[https://archive.org/details/photographicency0000coom/page/97 97–100]|chapter=Charadriiformes: Plovers|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/photographicency0000coom/page/97}}</ref> Their true status may be obscured by the difficulty in identifying them from the very similar [[ringed plover]] of Eurasia, of which it was formerly considered a [[subspecies]].

==Behavior==

Semipalmated plovers forage for food on beaches, tidal flats and fields, usually by sight. They eat insects (such as the larvae of [[Dolichopodidae|long-legged]] and beach flies, larvae of [[soldier flies]] and [[Ephydridae|shore flies]], [[mosquito]]es, [[grasshopper]]s and ''[[Ochtebius]]'' beetles), spiders,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Charadrius_semipalmatus/ | title=Charadrius semipalmatus (Semipalmated plover) | website=[[Animal Diversity Web]] }}</ref> crustaceans (such as [[isopod]]s, [[Decapoda|decapod]]s and [[copepod]]s)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Charadrius_semipalmatus/ | title=Charadrius semipalmatus (Semipalmated plover) | website=[[Animal Diversity Web]] }}</ref> and worms (such as [[polychaete]]s).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Charadrius_semipalmatus/ | title=Charadrius semipalmatus (Semipalmated plover) | website=[[Animal Diversity Web]] }}</ref> They also consume small molluscs including [[bivalve]]s and [[gastropod]]s, including snails such as [[Melampus coffeus|coffee bean snail]]s and ''[[Odostomia laevigata]]''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Charadrius_semipalmatus/ | title=Charadrius semipalmatus (Semipalmated plover) | website=[[Animal Diversity Web]] }}</ref> These opportunistic feeders also feed on berries or seeds from grasslands or cultivated fields.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Charadrius_semipalmatus/ | title=Charadrius semipalmatus (Semipalmated plover) | website=[[Animal Diversity Web]] }}</ref> This bird resembles the [[killdeer]] but is much smaller and has only one band.<ref>Kaufman, Kenn. (2000) Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America. New York: Houghton-Mifflin.</ref> Since the semipalmated plover nests on the ground, it uses a "broken-wing" display to lure intruders away from the nest, in a display similar to the related [[killdeer]].<ref>University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Charadrius_semipalmatus/</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Semipalmatedplover-santafeisland.jpg|Galápagos Islands
File:Semipalmated Plover, broken wing display.jpg|"Broken wing" display
Image:Charadrius-semipalmatus-002.jpg|Juvenile 
File:Charadrius semipalmatus (Audubon).jpg|Illustration ([[John James Audubon]])
</gallery>
==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Charadrius semipalmatus|Semipalmated plover}}
{{Wikispecies|Charadrius semipalmatus}}
* [http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Semipalmated_Plover.html Semipalmated plover species account] - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20180812083300/https://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i2740id.html Semipalmated plover - ''Charadrius semipalmatus''] - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
* [http://www.ec.gc.ca/soc-sbc/oiseau-bird-eng.aspx?sY=2011&sL=e&sM=p1&sB=SEPL Semipalmated plover], Environment Canada
* {{InternetBirdCollection|semipalmated-plover-charadrius-semipalmatus|Semipalmated plover}}
* {{VIREO|Semipalmated+Plover|Semipalmated plover}}
* {{IUCN_Map|22693764/262195475|Charadrius semipalmatus}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q468009}}

[[Category:Charadrius]]
[[Category:Shorebirds]]
[[Category:Native birds of Alaska]]
[[Category:Birds of Canada]]
[[Category:Meso-American wintering birds]]
[[Category:Wintering birds of South America]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1825]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte]]