Habitat

American Golden-Plover breeding habitat, Alaska.

Mixed juvenile Golden-Plovers on tundra habitat near Nome, AK, 21 August.

Breeding grounds on the Seward Peninsula, AK, June.

Breeding habitat of American Golden-Plover. Arctic Coastal Plain, Alaska. July.

Breeding Range

Nest primarily on arctic and subarctic tundra, sometimes on montane tundra. Distinct difference in topographic and vegetative requirements found where species are sympatric on Seward Peninsula (Connors et al. 1993): American Golden-Plover usually nests in sparse, low vegetation on higher, well-drained, rocky slopes; Pacific Golden-Plover typically in dense vegetation on lower, dry to moist sites with fewer rocks (see Breeding: nest site, below). Similar rocky, dry tundra nesting places preferred by American Golden-Plover elsewhere (Parmelee et al. 1967, Jehl and Smith 1970, Martin and Moitoret 1981, Montgomerie et al. 1983), but in some areas moist habitat with taller vegetation also used (Miller et al. 1985, Byrkjedal 1989a, Jehl 2004, Nouvet et al. 2008). In arctic Alaska, nesting frequency of American Golden-Plovers slightly greater in the Brooks Range foothills than on the adjacent moist Beaufort Coastal Plain (Johnson et al. 2007a). In Siberia, Pacific Golden-Plover nests in a wide range of habitats from moist forest-tundra to dry lichen-tundra (various authors, including Dementiev et al. 1951, Portenko 1972, Kistchinski 1980, Kondratiev 1982, Tomkovich 1988b, Rogacheva 1992). On St. Lawrence I., AK, Pacific Golden-Plover nests found only on “dry knolls” (Fay and Cade 1959) and “in higher dry areas where gravel and lichens covered the ground” (Sauer 1962). Of 8 Pacific Golden-Plover nests at Port Heiden, Alaska Peninsula, 6 were on dry stony substrate with sparse plant cover, 2 were in low heath-lichen-grass tundra (Savage and Johnson 2005).

Spring And Fall Migration

Birds use variety of inland and coastal habitats, both natural and human-made: native prairie, pastures, tilled farmland, untilled harvested fields, rice fields, burned fields, golf courses, airports, mudflats, shorelines, estuaries, and beaches. Tundra ridges and hillsides blown free of snow particularly important in early spring.

Winter Range

American Golden-Plovers winter primarily amidst the Rio de la Plata grasslands consisting of pampas in e.-central Argentina and campos in Uruguay and s. Brazil. Entire region has been dramatically affected by agricultural development (similar to prairies of North America), and original grasslands greatly reduced (Bucher and Nores 1988, Soriano 1992, Blanco et al. 2004). Croplands and urban areas are much less suitable for American Golden-Plover than grazed grasslands (Blanco et al. 1993, Isacch and Martínez 2003b, Azpiroz and Blake 2009), though this species commonly found in rice fields on South American winter range (Blanco et al. 2006a; also see Conservation and Management: effects of human activity, below). Some winter on coastal wetlands; many in s. Brazil and Uruguay, fewer in Argentina, very few in Chile (Morrison and Ross 1989), in some areas birds foraging along coast during low tides move to uplands with high tides (Blanco 1998).

Winter range of Pacific Golden-Plover extremely varied: cultivated fields, pastures, coastal salt marshes, mudflats, coralline flats, beaches, mangroves, grassy borders of airport runways and taxiways, cemeteries, athletic fields, parks, residential lawns, golf courses, roadsides, clearings in heavily wooded areas. In Hawaii, birds use the foregoing, also open stands of ironwood (Casuarina spp.) with trees often ≥ 20 m tall (ingress/egress flights essentially vertical), and tiny lawns and gardens in heavily urbanized areas such as downtown Honolulu. On Oahu and other Hawaiian islands, military bases and airports often contain important wintering grounds supporting many birds. Where suitable habitats (pastures, etc.) occur on mountain slopes in Hawaii, Pacific Golden-Plover ranges to at least 2,500 m elevation (van Riper et al. 1978, OWJ). Wintering Pacific Golden-Plovers clearly very adaptable to urban environments and coexistence with humans (Tarburton 2001, Beichle 2001; Johnson et al. 2001c, 2004c, 2006, 2008a), much more so than American Golden-Plovers (see Conservation and Management: effects of human activity, below).

Extensive land-clearing in Hawaiian I. (beginning with deforestation by Polynesian colonists around AD 400) and elsewhere across insular Pacific (Stinson et al. 1997, Beichle 2001, Johnson et al. 2008a) has likely improved wintering conditions for Pacific Golden-Plover by creating open environments. Plethora of habitat in Hawaii possibly “short-stopping” migrants otherwise destined for the central Pacific and beyond (Bruner 1993, Johnson 2003, Southey 2009). Similar deforestation and cultivation beneficial to Pacific Golden-Plover in India (Ripley 1982), though other human impacts may offset gains (Hussain 1987).