Amazing Bird
While I was on vacation in Florida last month I had the opportunity to photograph a small bird that was busy wading and walking on the sand at the end of where the sea waters form ebbs of foam and sea debris such as kelp, shells, conchs, etc. This bird pecks on small mollusks, insects, crustaceans and sea weeds.
I’m referring to the American Golden Plover (Pluvialis dominica) is a medium-sized plover.The breeding habitat of American golden plover is Arctic tundra from northern Canada and Alaska. They nest on the ground in a dry open area. They are migratory and winter in southern South America. They follow an elliptical migration path; northbound birds pass through Central America about January–April and stage in great numbers in places like Illinois before their final push north. In fall, they take a more easterly route, flying mostly over the western Atlantic and Caribbean Sea to the wintering grounds in Patagonia. The bird has one of the longest known migratory routes of over 25,000 miles. Of this, 2,400 miles is over open ocean where it cannot stop to feed or drink. It does this from body fat stores that it stocks up on prior to the flight. It is a regular vagrant to western Europe.
Text excerpts © Wikipedia – Photographs © HJ Ruiz – Avian101
H.J. Ruiz - Avian101 
Beautiful captures!! 🙂
Thanks a lot! 🙂
Amazing bird!
Thank you Jan! 🙂
What a wonderful bird, and you captured it beautifully! 😊
Thanks Julie! I appreciate it! 🙂
He seems to make rather large steps. Nice bird with eyebrows.
They can walk fast like most small shorebirds! Thanks Rosa! 🙂
I have seen that over here on the coast of Málaga, small shorebirds walk incredibly fast and know so well how to deal with the upcoming waves, it’s fascinating to observe them.
Nice shots. So, what’s the best birding vacation spot you’ve been to? I might just have to put it on my “bucket list.” 🙂
That question is difficult to answer because when I go on vacation we go to beaches in the west coast of Florida and then visit islands, swamps, reservoirs, sounds, the beaches etc. It’s matter of luck. If you want something that guarantees that you’ll see birds then go to Corkscrew Park in the Everglades near Naples. Depends also of the time of the year. 🙂
Lovely photographs of an amazing little bird.
Thanks so much Clare! 🙂
I like those fast little plovers. We get them here too.
That’s great Donna! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
That is an amazing bird!! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you very much Tiny! 🙂
Love plovers! Just adorbs!
Thanks Lori! 🙂