Courtesy Preview
This Introductory article that you are viewing is a courtesy preview of the full life history account of this species. The remaining articles (Distribution, Habitat, Behavior, etc.), as well as the Multimedia Galleries and Reference sections of this account are subscriber-only content, and you will need a subscription in order to view the species account in its entirety. Click on the Subscribe tab for more information.
If you are already a current subscriber, you will need to sign in with your login information to access BNA normally.
Sounds
Vocalizations
Development
By fledging time, calls are very similar to those of adults (Sutton and Parmelee 1955); quiet peeps for first 3–4 d after hatching (EN).
Vocal Array
Common call note is a soft, clear, vigorous, whistled tyoo-eep, kerwee, or chu-wheet (Fig. 3A; Bent 1929, Sutton and Parmelee 1955, Cramp and Simmons 1983, Dunn 1993), with rising inflection of second syllable. Common Ringed Plover call is described as a mournful poo-wee, with both notes similar in pitch (Dunn 1993). Flight or courtship display songs or calls are described as quickened version of common call (kee-weep), followed by rough r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r, and ending with slurred, descending yelp (Sutton and Parmelee 1955). Aerial display characterized by Miller (1996) involves rhythmically repeated calls (RRCs) similar to those of other Charadrius plovers, with rapidly pulsed and relatively brief introductory notes followed by inflected tonal calls that rise from 1,500 to 3,400 Hz and then fall off to starting frequency. These display calls (RRCs) differ significantly from that of Common Ringed Plover, which has longer call duration, longer call-part duration, longer interval between calls, lower frequency of calls, and less inflected frequency contour, ending in rich harmonic section not found in Semipalmated Plover (spectrogram in Miller 1996). Anxiety or nervousness evokes rapid, repeated chuttering, chip chip call, or repeated chup chup (Fig. 3B; see Behavior: Agonistic behavior, below; Cramp and Simmons 1983). See Miller 1984 for spectrogram of adults near nest or young during human intrusion.
Phenology
Display flights and songs commence when males arrive on breeding grounds and end when pairing is complete. However, males are seen displaying and calling over territory in Jul when most nests are hatching, presumably because male is unpaired or nest has been depredated (Y. Zharikov pers. comm., MSB). Displays continue during migration, including fanned tail and chases (Y. Zharikov pers. comm.); rare in winter (A. Smith pers. comm.).
Daily Pattern
No information.
Places Of Vocalizing
Display or courtship flights are given above nesting territory. One flight observed for 22 min with 2 birds flying in tandem, with periods of quiet interspersed with vocalizations (MSB). Average length of continuous display flight: 100 s ± 93 SD (n = 15; EN).
Repertoire And Delivery Of Songs
No information.
Social Context And Presumed Functions
Display flights and songs may function to attract mates. Chuttering vocalization is made during distraction displays and Copulatory Displays (see Behavior: sexual behavior, below), thus serving >1 purpose (MSB). Adults give alarm call (chup chup) loudly and constantly when predator approaches and is near chicks. Response of chicks (to crouch) is immediate and quick (MSB).
Nonvocal Sounds
No information.
Nol, Erica and Michele S. Blanken. 1999. Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus), 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/444
