Distinguishing Characteristics

Large plover (total length ca. 28–29 cm, mass about 180 g). Heavy bodied, bull headed, thick necked, large billed relative to congeners and most other plovers. Bill short and thick, tapering evenly to bluntly pointed tip. Wings pointed, extending just beyond tail tip; tail slightly rounded. Legs and toes relatively short, with well-developed web between base of outer and middle toes and smaller one between middle and inner toes. Short hind toe variable (5–20% length of middle toe), rarely absent (Cramp and Simmons 1983).

Alternate plumage unmistakable: male upperparts white, mottled and barred with black; comparable markings of female more subdued, typically light and dark brown. Male with solid black underparts from chin to upper belly; in female black much intermixed with white. Tail pattern of adult male more contrasty than that of adult female; sexual difference unusual in shorebirds. Basic and Juvenal plumages much duller, from a distance mostly gray-brown above, with gray-brown breast and white belly. At close range, adult pattern subdued, with no conspicuous markings, whereas juvenile has rather complex pattern of pale dots all over upperparts and heavily streaked breast and sides.

Distinguished from other Pluvialis by having a small hind toe as well as by larger size, paler coloration in all plumages, and conspicuous flight pattern. Dorsal colors gray, black, light brown, and white in Alternate plumage, never with bright yellow of golden-plovers. In Basic and Juvenal plumages, distinguished from golden-plovers by larger size, relatively larger head and bill and shorter neck, and overall paler coloration. Golden-plovers in most plumages show much yellow above, this color only in younger Juvenal-plumaged Black-bellied Plovers. Contrasty in flight, with broad white wing-stripes and white rump and tail furnishing easy distinction from golden-plovers. Black axillars conspicuous against white underwing and belly in Basic and Juvenal plumages, unique to this species.

Pluvialis downy chick distinguished by much yellow on dorsum and white superciliary stripe; this species distinguished from other Pluvialis by broad white dorsal collar (Jehl 1968).