Semipalmated Plover

The Semipalmated Plover is a small species of shorebird found in parts of North and South America. They breed across much of Canada and Alaska, and winter along coasts of the Gulf of Mexico and South America. It closely resembles the Ringed Plover found in Eurasia.
Semipalmated Plovers have webbing between their front toes. Chicks and adults have been observed swimming small distances to reach new feeding areas. These little birds feed on invertebrates from both freshwater and saltwater sources.
The conservation status of the Semipalmated Plover is Least Concern as of July 2014, and their population trend is stable.
Details & Statistics
- Least Concern (LC)
- Near Threatened (NT)
- Vulnerable (VU)
- Endangered (EN)
- Critically Endangered (CR)
- Extinct in the Wild (EW)
- Extinct (EX)
Conservation
The Semipalmated Plover is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and was last assessed in 2012 by BirdLife International. This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be stable, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is very large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
International Names
