Charadrius melodus 004 edit🐦

Photo: Mdf derivative work: User:Tmv23 · CC BY-SA 3.0

SpeciesCharadriiformesCharadriidae
Birds

🐦Piping Plover

Charadrius melodus Ord, 1824

The piping plover is a small, sand-colored shorebird that nests and feeds along coastal sand and gravel beaches in North America. The adult has yellow-orange-red legs, a black band across the forehead from eye to eye, and a black stripe running along the breast line. This chest band is usually thicker in males during the breeding season, and it is the only reliable way to tell the sexes apart. The bird is difficult to see when it is standing still, as it blends well with open, sandy beach habitats. It typically runs in short, quick spurts and then stops.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Photos
1
Measurements
13
vs you
≈ 1/1,140th of your weight
Conservation status
NTNear threatened

IUCN Red List assessment, 2020.

Population trendIncreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
0.05 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
14 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Piping Plover

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
0.05 kg
AVONET
Other figures ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 0.05 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Tail length
0.05 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Wing length
0.12 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Beak length
0.01 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Tarsus length
0.02 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
14 years
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Gestation
28 days
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Litter size
about 4
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
Carnivore
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Habitat
Coastal
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Lifestyle
Terrestrial
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Danger to humans
harmless
SeaLifeBase
Details ↓

Source: SeaLifeBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Volume l
0.1 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Piping Plover yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classAves
  4. ›orderCharadriiformes
  5. ›familyCharadriidae
  6. ›genusCharadrius
  7. ›speciesCharadrius melodus
Full lineage
  1. superclassSarcopterygii
  2. superclassTetrapoda
  3. orderSauria
  4. classBirds · Aves
All 9 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. classBirds · Aves
More

More about the Piping Plover

In other languages
corriol xiulador (ca), kulík hvízdavý (cs), Kortnæbbet Præstekrave (da), Flötenregenpfeifer (de), Charadrius melodus (es), سلیم پازرد (fa) … and 21 more languages
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