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BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary


Anarhynchus nivosus
Snowy Plover

 
Scientific Name: Anarhynchus nivosus (Cassin, 1858)
Scientific Name Synonyms: Charadrius alexandrinus
Charadrius nivosus
English Name: Snowy Plover
 
Classification / Taxonomy
Scientific Name - Concept Reference: American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). Chesser, R.T., R.C. Banks, F.K. Barker, C. Cicero, J.L. Dunn, A.W. Kratter, I.J. Lovette, P.C. Rasmussen, J.V. Remsen, Jr., J.D. Rising, D.F. Stotz, and K. Winker. 2011. Fifty-second supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 128(3):600-613.
Classification Level: Species
Taxonomy Comments: 2024 - changed from Charadrius nivosus to Anarhynchus nivosus to align with updated taxonomy.
March 2012 - changed from Charadrius alexandrinus to Charadrius nivosus to align with NatureServe (DDW).
Species Group: Vertebrate Animal
Species Code: B-SNPL
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
Animalia Craniata Aves Charadriiformes Charadriidae
   
Conservation Status / Legal Designation
Global Status: G3 (Apr 2016)
Provincial Status: SNA (Apr 2023)
BC List: Accidental
Provincial FRPA list:   
Provincial Wildlife Act:
COSEWIC Status:
SARA Schedule:
General Status Canada: 8 - Accidental (2005)
Migratory Bird Convention Act: Y
   
Ecology & Life History
General Description: A pale plover with a sand-colored dorsum, white venter, thin dark bill, dark or grayish feet and legs, and (in adults) a partial breast band and dark ear patch (females may lack the black areas in the plumage); immatures have light edges on dorsal body feathers, resulting in a scaly pattern (NGS 1983, Peterson 1990).
Global Reproduction Comments: Clutch initiation in northern Utah ranged from mid-April to mid-July (Paton and Edwards 1991, 1992). Clutch size usually is 3. Incubation lasts 24 days, by both sexes. Young are tended by both sexes (or male only), leave nest soon after hatching, fly at 22-31 days. Double brooding commonly occurs in California; female abandons first mate and brood within a few days of hatching and renests with new mate. May nest in loose colony (maximum of 3.3 nests/ha in California). In northern Utah, nest spacing was clumped at certain sites, rather than widely dispersed as has been reported for eastern California (Paton and Edwards 1991).
Global Ecology Comments: Nonbreeding: usually solitary or in twos, though may form pre-migratory flocks of hundreds in some areas (Paton et al. 1992).

Mean annual survival rate was at least 69% (range 58-88%) for a migratory population at the Great Salt Lake, minimally 75% for a mixed migratory-resident population in coastal California, 66% for a migratory population in North Dakota (see Paton 1994). Predation by gulls, common raven, red fox, skunk, raccoon, and/or coyote may result in a high rate of clutch loss in some areas (Page et al. 1983, 1985; Paton and Edwards 1991, 1992).
Migration Characteristics:
(Global / Provincial)		 
    Nonmigrant:
    Local Migrant:
    Distant Migrant:
    Within Borders Migrant: 		Y /
Y /
Y /
na /
Global Migration Comments: Interior populations are migratory, coastal populations are composed of resident and migratory birds (Paton and Edwards 1990). Breeders from interior western North America winter along the Pacific coast and along the Gulf of California (Page et al. 1995). Plovers banded in the breeding season in eastern California and southern Oregon have been seen in winter in coastal California and Pacific coastal Baja California (Page et al. 1995). Plovers banded in Utah evidently winter primarily along the Gulf of California coast and the west coast of Baja California (Page et al. 1995).

Arrives in breeding areas areas in Great Plains and eastern California as early as early April (Jacobs 1986). Most arrive in northern Utah beginning in early April, and nearly all have departed by late September (Paton et al. 1992).
Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence)
Global Habitat Comments: Habitat includes beaches, dry mud or salt flats, and sandy shores of rivers, lakes, and ponds.

The Pacific coast population breeds primarily above the high tide line on coastal beaches, sand spits, dune-backed beaches, sparsely vegetated dunes, beaches at creek and river mouths, and salt pans at lagoons and estuaries. Less common nesting habitats include bluff-backed beaches, dredged material disposal sites, salt pond levees, dry salt ponds, and river bars. In winter, this species is found on many of the beaches used for nesting as well as on beaches where they do not nest, in man-made salt ponds, and on estuarine sand and mud flats. Source: USFWS (2007).

Nests are on the ground on broad open beaches or salt or dry mud flats, where vegetation is sparse or absent (small clumps of vegetation are used for cover by chicks); nests generally are beside or under objects or in open (Page et al. 1985). Nests often are subject to flooding. In northern Utah, snowy plovers usually nested in areas devoid of vegetation and selected brine fly exuviae for a nesting substrate when available (Paton and Edwards 1991); nesting generally occurred in recently exposed alkaline flats (Paton and Edwards 1992).
Food Habits: Invertivore: Adult, Immature
Global Food Habits Comments: Eats insects, small crustaceans, and other minute invertebrates (Terres 1980). Picks food items from substrate, probes in sand or mud in or near shallow water, sometimes uses foot to stir up prey in shallow water.
Global Phenology:
Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)
Colonial Breeder: N
Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): 16/ / 41
Elevation (m) (min / max): Global: 
Provincial: 
   
 
Distribution
Endemic: N
Global Range Comment: Breeding range includes the following regions: North American Pacific coast from Washington south to Oaxaca (Mexico) (most numerous from San Francisco Bay south); Pacific coast of South America from Ecuador to Chile; inland areas of North America locally from Saskatchewan (irregular) and Montana (irregular) south to central Mexico; Gulf Coast from Florida to southern Mexico; and locally on islands of the Bahamas and Caribbean region (Page et al. 2009). Approximately 42 percent of all breeding Snowy Plovers in North America occur in only tow areas (Great Salt Lake, Utah, and Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma) (Thomas et al. 2012).

Nonbreeding range encompasses islands and coastal areas (and some inland sites) locally from southern Washington south to Chile, Gulf of Mexico coast of the United States and Mexico, Bahamas, Caribbean islands, and islands along northern South America (Page et al. 2009).
 
Authors / Contributors
Global Information Author: Hammerson, G.
Last Updated: Apr 26, 2013
Provincial Information Author:
Last Updated:
   
References and Related Literature
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
Bent, A.C. 1929. Life histories of North American shorebirds (Part II). U.S. Natl. Mus. Bull. 146. Washington, D.C.
Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, et al. 1990b. The Birds of British Columbia Vol. 2: Nonpasserines: Diurnal Birds of Prey through Woodpeckers. Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, BC.
Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1992. Birds in Jeopardy: the Imperiled and Extinct Birds of the United States and Canada, Including Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California. 259 pp.
Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.
Harrison, H. H. 1979. A field guide to western birds' nests. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 279 pp.
Hill, L. A., and L. G. Talent. 1990. Effects of capture, handling, banding, and radio-marking on breeding least terns and snowy plovers. J. Field Ornithology 61:310-319.
Jacobs, R. A. (Wilson). 1986. Snowy plover (Charadrius alexandrinus): section 4.4.1, US Army Corps of Engineers Wildlife Resources Management Manual. Tech. Rep. EL-86-54. US Army Engineer Waterways Expt. Sta., Vicksburg, Miss.
Morrison, R. I. G., R. E. Gill, Jr., B. A. Harrington, S. Skagen, G. W. Page, C. L. Gratto-Trevor, and S. M. Haig. 2001. Estimates of shorebird populations in North America. Occasional Paper Number 104, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, Ottawa, ON. 64 pages.
National Geographic Society (NGS). 1983. Field guide to the birds of North America. National Geographic Society, Washington, DC.
Page, G. W., et al. 1983. Spacing out at Mono Lake: breeding success, nest density, and predation in the snowy plover. Auk 100:13-24.
Page, G. W., et al. 1991. Distribution and abundance of the snowy plover on its western North American breeding grounds. J. Field Ornithology 62:245-255.
Page, G. W., L. E. Stenzel, and C. A. Ribic. 1985. Nest site selection and clutch predation in the snowy plover. Auk 102:347-353.
Page, G. W., M. A. Stern, and P. W. C. Paton. 1995a. Differences in wintering areas of snowy plovers from inland breeding sites in western North America. Condor 97:258-262.
Page, G. W., P. L. Quinn, and J. C. Warriner. 1989. Comparison of the breeding of hand- and wild-reared snowy plovers. Conservation Biology 3:198-201.
Paton, P. W. C. 1994. Survival estimates for snowy plovers breeding at Great Salt Lake, Utah. Condor 96:1106-1109.
Paton, P. W. C. 1995. Breeding biology of snowy plovers at Great Salt Lake, Utah. Wilson Bulletin 107:275-288.
Paton, P. W. C., and Edwards. 1990. Status and nesting ecology of the snowy plover at Great Salt Lake--1990. Utah Birds 6(4):49-66.
Paton, P. W. C., and T. C. Edwards, Jr. 1991. Nesting ecology of the snowy plover at Great Salt Lake, Utah--1991 breeding season. Progress Report, Contract No. 90-2028, Utah Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Utah State University, Logan. 28 pp.
Paton, P. W. C., and T. C. Edwards, Jr. 1992. Nesting ecology of the snowy plover at Great Salt Lake, Utah--1992 breeding season. Progress Report, Contract No. 90-2028, Utah Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Utah State University, Logan. 18 pp.
Paton, P. W., C. Kneedy, and E. Sorensen. 1992. Chronology of shorebird and ibis use of selected marshes at Great Salt Lake. Utah Birds 8(1):1-19.
Peterson, R. T. 1990b. A field guide to western birds. Third edition. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. 432 pp.
Raffaele, H. A. 1983a. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Fondo Educativo Interamericano, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 255 pp.
Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). 1985. Management guidelines for the western snowy plover. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, OR. 17 pp.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). 1987. Migratory nongame birds of management concern in the United States: the 1987 list. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Migratory Bird Management, Washington, D.C. 63 pp.
Wilson, R. A. 1980b. Snowy plover nesting ecology on the Oregon coast. M.S. thesis, Oregon State Univ., Corvallis.
 

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 2013. Species Summary: Anarhynchus nivosus. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Feb 27, 2026).