Semipalmated Plover
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[Photo] Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) -- Singing Sands, Bruce Peninsula National Park, Canada -- 2005 September. Photo by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Mdf

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The Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) is a small plover.

Adults have a grey-brown back and wings, a white belly, and a white breast with one black neckband. They have a brown cap, a white forehead, a black mask around the eyes and a short orange and black bill.

Their breeding habitat is open ground on beaches or flats across northern Canada and Alaska. They nest on the ground in an open area with little or no plant growth.

They are migratory and winter in coastal areas ranging from the United States to Patagonia. They are extremely rare vagrants to western Europe, although their true status may be obscured by the difficulty in identifying them from the very similar Ringed Plover of Eurasia.

These birds forage for food on beaches, tidal flats and fields, usually by sight. They eat insects, crustaceans and worms.

This bird resembles the Killdeer but is much smaller and has only one band. The term "semipalmated" refers to its partly webbed feet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semipalmated_Plover

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