Feathered Fridays: Pacific Golden Plover

This article is part of the Feathered Fridays series, a spotlight on different bird species found at your airports or aerodrome spaces.

Image: Sharif Uddin

Risk Level: High Risk

Overview

Plovers are shorebirds known for their short bills and plump bodies. With over 45 species of plover worldwide, Pacific golden plovers are a larger species at around 25 cm. Breeding and non-breeding Pacific golden plovers have stark differences in plumage. A breeding adult has a black face and underparts with a broad white band down the breast; non-breeding plumage is much more subtle with more pale brown color.

Similar species to the Pacific golden plover include the grey plover and both the European and American golden plovers. Other shorebirds like sandpipers and curlews have much longer bills, plovers can easily be recognized by their short bills.

Range

As their name suggests, Pacific golden plovers can be found around the Pacific region. They have incredible migrations from northern Russia and Alaska down to New Zealand. Being migrating birds, they travel through different flyways that run through different regions across the western Pacific Ocean.

Behavior

Like other species of plover, the Pacific golden plover feeds at coastal areas on aquatic insects and crustaceans. They prefer to feed and live in any area close to the shore such as mudflats, short-grass fields, and grasslands with standing water bodies.

Impact of Airfields

Plovers like to flock in large groups in grassy/marshy areas, making airports an attractive place for them to feed and rest from their long migration routes. To lessen plover numbers on the airfield, installing plover decoys can work to attract the birds to said decoys. In the airfield, this can be used to prevent plover strikes by installing the plover decoys outside of the strike zone/airport. With the decoys present, the migrating plovers will flock near the decoy and hopefully away from the airfield.

Migrating plovers are looking for food like small crustaceans and insects which may attract them to the airfield. Insecticides can be another dispersal method for not only plovers, but any other bird that eats insects. The main pro of using insecticides is if done successfully, it controls insect species which reduces the number of plovers and other small birds. When the number of smaller bird species are reduced, their predator species like raptors numbers are also reduced. Having an entire food-web of animal species deterred from an airport can significantly reduce bird strikes. One con of using insecticides is resistance. Insect species that were once controlled by an insecticide can be repeatedly exposed and build up a resistance until finally, they have little or no effect at all. For airports specifically, the type of insecticide can be difficult to manage. Oil based insecticides can risk aircraft from skidding, while water-based chemicals may be washed off in high rain density areas. In high rain density areas, insecticides can mix with water sources through leaching or runoff and can harm aquatic wildlife.

Identifying which species of plover and bird in general can help determine a species management program.