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Distinguishing Characteristics
Adult Piping Plover, non-breeding plumage; Florida, September
Adult female Piping Plover, breeding plumage; Massachusetts, June
Small plover (17-18 cm long; 43-63 g), one of several in the Americas showing a single black neck band in alternate plumage. Combination of short and stout bill, pale upperparts, and orange legs important in identification.
Snowy Plover (C . alexandrinus) is similarly pale above but is smaller (15-17 cm long) with a thinner, longer bill, and with leg color ranging from dark gray to dull grayish yellow. Semipalmated Plover (C . semipalmatus) is similar to Piping in size and proportions but much darker on upperparts and always darker on lores and auriculars. Wilson’s Plover (C . wilsonia) has much longer, heavier bill, gray to grayish-pink legs, and darker upperparts. Collared Plover (C . collaris) is smaller (14-15 cm long) with a longer, thinner bill, dull yellow (and proportionately longer) legs, and slightly darker upperparts. Unlike Piping, Collared lacks white collar across nape. Among these species, only Piping Plover shows complete white band across upper tail coverts in flight.
Elliott-Smith, Elise and Susan M. Haig. 2004. Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/002
