The American golden plover is a medium-sized bird with a teardrop-shaped body and long, skinny legs. These fast, long-distance fliers have elongated, narrow, pointed wings that help them fly efficiently by reducing drag.  

The plumage, or feather pattern, of non-breeding adults is a mottled gray-brown. But in the summer breeding season, adult American golden plovers transform. The wings and back of a breeding adult are a striking combination of gold, white and brown speckles to go with a slick of black feathers covering the face, chest and belly, as well as a white stripe across the forehead that extends to either side of the neck. Males’ coloration is usually crisper and more well-defined, with females featuring pale mottled faces. 

Juveniles have brown-gray plumage similar to non-breeding adults, but their wings and backs include some yellow and white speckles that can appear almost scaly.  

Chicks hatch covered in fluffy down with grayish-white bellies and splotches of yellow and black on their heads and backs. 

Larger than a robin but smaller than a crow, the American golden plover is 9.4-11 inches (24-28 centimeters) long and weighs 4.3-6.8 ounces (122-194 grams). Their wingspan is 25.6-26.4 inches (65-67 centimeters).

They can be found in tundra, prairies, mudflats, and wetlands, depending on the time of year. 

These migratory birds breed in the Arctic tundra of northern Canada and Alaska, but winter in the lower half of South America, primarily on the pampas of Argentina and the campos of Uruguay. Birdwatchers will often see the birds refueling during their migratory journeys in places like coastal Bolivia and Peru, as well as the Midwestern United States. 

About 8-13 years in the wild. 

The American golden plover uses a variety of high-pitched whistling calls to communicate with other members of its species. During aerial courtship displays, the males rhythmically repeat a short “toodlink” song, with the end of each call rising in pitch. After the male’s display song, he performs a longer series of trills that the female often echoes back. 

Alarm calls, especially on the breeding grounds, usually entail a sharp “kleep” call.   

In the non-breeding season flying American golden plovers have a large vocabulary of calls but the most common is some variation of “tuueee” or “queedle” sound.   

American golden plovers mainly eat insects and invertebrates, along with some berries and seeds. Some of these insects include adult and larval beetles, grasshoppers, wasps, ants, flies and mosquitoes. Spiders, snails, worms, mollusks and small crustaceans can also end up as a meal for this shorebird.  

While foraging, these birds repeat a sequence of “run-stop-peck,” in which they run to a spot, stop to look for food, peck at anything they find and repeat the process.   

At the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, American golden plovers are fed nutritionally complete pellets, krill, mealworms and crickets.  

Other species in the plover family have been observed to sleep intermittently during the day, but there is little scientific information about the sleep habits of the wild American golden plover.

These birds congregate in massive flocks before and during their migrations. At their breeding grounds, American golden plovers are highly territorial and will chase off intruders that enter their large territories, which range from 25-125 acres. The species is socially monogamous, but it’s also relatively common for females to mate with males outside their pairing.  

The breeding season is in the North American springtime, from roughly April to June. Courtship includes what’s called the “butterfly display”; the male flies high in the air singing a repeated “toodlink” song and then fluttering and gliding to the ground with slow flaps or with the wings held up in a V shape. On the ground, males also court females by racing at them with a lowered head and tail raised, or they stand motionless with their bodies stretched upwards. 

American golden plovers nest on dry, open tundra. The nest itself is called a scrape, because it is just a shallow depression in the tundra that the male lines with lichens, moss, grass or leaves. 

Females typically lay four eggs, but sometimes only three. The eggs are tan with blotches of black and brown that provide excellent camouflage against the tundra vegetation. Both parents take turns incubating the eggs for 24-27 days. The chicks are covered in down and can walk soon after hatching. The chicks can also feed themselves within one day. 

The current population estimate is around 500,000 birds, with about 50% in Alaska and 50% in Canada. Though the International Union for Conservation of Nature considers American golden plovers a species of ‘Least Concern’ for conservation efforts, recent research suggests the species has declined by 70% over the past 40 years. A primary threat to this species is habitat loss on its South American wintering grounds. Climate change is also reducing the availability of suitable habitat in this plover's Arctic breeding grounds, with a 64% decrease in Arctic breeding habitat predicted by 2070.