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Wilson's Plover
Charadrius wilsonia
Family: CHARADRIIDAE
Order: Charadriiformes
Spanish Common Name: Chorlo pico grueso
French Common Name: Pluvier de Wilson
(c) Margo Zdravkovic |
Courtesy Kenn Kaufman |
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Conservation Status
Global Population: Unknown
Continental Population: 6,000
Watchlist Status: 
Audubon State of the Birds Status: Very small population size and breeding range
Gregarious and locally common in its limited distribution, the Wilson's Plover is seldom found away from saltwater environments, where it forages for marine invertebrates, nests and roosts in small groups, occasionally alongside other smaller plover species, and defends its territory with ground and aerial chases. Sometimes called the "Thick-billed Plover," the shorebird is a swift flier that will resort to feigning injury, such as a broken wing, to distract potential predators.
Range & Distribution
The Wilson's Plover breeds on the Atlantic Coast from Virginia to Florida and on the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas. It also occurs in coastal areas of the Caribbean Islands, Mexico, eastern and western Central America, and South America. During winter, it is found along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, from Florida and Texas southward to northern South America.
A legend for the range map to the right can be found here.
Population Status & Trends
Formal studies are underway by Audubon's Coastal Bird Conservation Program (CBCP) to determine the state of the Wilson's Plover population. Its historical breeding range has contracted over the last half-century, with the species no longer breeding in New Jersey, its former northern limit, or in Maryland, where it was last observed nesting in 1985. In Maryland and Virginia, their current northernmost breeding territory, Wilson's Plovers are listed as endangered. The birds are listed as threatened in South Carolina, rare in Georgia, and "state protected" in Alabama. The U. S. Shorebird Conservation Plan has identified the Wilson's Plover as a "species of high concern." Between 1980 and 1987, Georgia's population dropped from 360 pairs to fewer than 250 pairs.
Conservation Issues & Efforts
With its relatively small population and restricted breeding range, the Wilson's Plover is particularly vulnerable to habitat destruction from beachfront development, and disruption from beachgoers on their nesting grounds. The plovers abandon their nests when disturbed, leaving their eggs exposed to predation and overheating.
Although not federally endangered, the Wilson's Plover has been granted protected status in many of the states in which it breeds. The birds have also been designated a high priority shorebird species by the Partners in Flight Bird Conservation Plan for the South Atlantic Coastal Plain. This plan calls for controlling recreation and predation along beaches and dunes during the plovers' nesting season and recommends that all available habitat be protected, either by resource management agencies or through private-public partnerships.
What You Can Do
For more actions you can take, including Audubon activities, please visit our resources page.
For More Information
References
Corbat, C. A., and P. W. Bergstrom. 2000. Wilson's Plover (Charadrius wilsonia). In The Birds of North America, No. 516 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.
Kaufman, Kenn. Lives of North American Birds, Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, 1996.
Sibley, David Allen. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2000.
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