Habitat

Figure 2. Nesting habitat of Snowy Plover at the Salinas River mouth, Monterey Co.

Volunteer monitoring threatened Snowy Plovers in key nesting habitat, coastal California; July.

Sign protecting Snowy Plover nesting habitat; Half Moon Bay, CA. May.

Snowy Plover nest on beach, Los Angeles, CA. June

Nests on the ground, mainly in the open on sandy coastal beaches, barrier islands, barren shores of inland saline lakes, and on river bars. Also now uses man-made, agricultural wastewater ponds and reservoir margins in the interior, dredge spoils on the coast, and salt evaporation ponds on the coast and in the interior.

Breeding Range

Figure 2. On Pacific Coast, nests on barren to sparsely vegetated sand beaches (Wilson-Jacobs and Meslow 1984), dry salt flats in lagoons, dredge spoils deposited on beach or dune habitat, levees and flats at salt-evaporation ponds, and sand and cobble river bars up to 7 miles from the beach (Page and Stenzel 1981, Tuttle et al.1998). In California, most breeding occurs on coastal dune-backed beaches, barrier beaches, and salt-evaporation ponds; infrequently on bluff-backed beaches; and also offshore on Channel Island beaches (Page and Stenzel 1981). Snowy Plovers breed regularly on gravel bars on the Eel River, Humboldt Co., CA (Colwell et al. 2005). In Baja California, barrier beaches, salt flats, and salt-evaporation ponds are primary breeding sites (Palacios et al. 1994).

Inland, breeds up to 3,048 m (Colorado; Kingery 1983) on barren to sparsely vegetated ground at alkaline or saline lakes, reservoirs, ponds, and riverine sand bars (Mabee and Estelle 2000, Conway et al. 2005); and at sewage (occasionally), salt-evaporation, and agricultural wastewater ponds (Ivey 1984). Also nests at salt evaporation ponds at Great Salt Lake , UT. Although breeding has not been documented on salt flats devoid of water (Herman et al. 1988, GWP), nesting can occur where a distant small seep is the only apparent surface water (GWP, LES).

On Gulf Coast in Florida, most nests are located on coastal sandy beaches and barrier islands; a few on little-used paved parking lots at Eglin Air Force Base, Okaloosa Co. (Himes et al. 2006).

Spring And Fall Migration

Same as on breeding and winter ranges.

Winter Range

Primarily coastal: beaches, tidal flats, lagoon margins, and salt-evaporation ponds. Inland some birds regularly winter at agricultural waste-water ponds in San Joaquin Valley, CA, and at saline lakes (particularly Salton Sea) in s. California (Page et al. 1986, Shuford et al. 1995), in nw. and central Texas (Elliott-Smith et al. 2004), and interior of Mexico (Howell and Webb 1994).