mile flight across the ocean to the Aleutian Islands, we do not know.
If they fly at the rate of 40 miles an hour without stopping, it would
take over two days. They probably can not sustain such a prolonged
effort without food. Practically all shore birds are known to alight on
and arise from the water at will; so the chances are that they stop to
rest on the way. They probably obtain some food from floating masses
of seaweed, from the refuse left by whales, or from the numerous forms
of minute animal life to be found on the surface. These birds have
frequently been seen migrating at sea hundreds of miles from land, and
one observer has actually seen one resting on the water. Evidence that
they do so is furnished by the fact that native gunners in Trinidad,
according to some notes sent to me by Julian Lyder, detect the newly
arrived birds by a salty taste on the feathers.
The plover leave the Hawaiian Islands during April and May. We have no
data as to when they reach the Aleutian Islands, but they arrive in the
Commander Islands about the middle of May, and the first arrivals were
noted at Nijni Kolymsk, Siberia, on May 30. On the Pribilof Islands
they have been known to arrive as early as April 18, but they usually
come about the first week in May. A. H. Twitchell tells me that he has
seen them at Bethel, Alaska, as early as May 8, and Herbert W. Brandt
says in his notes from Hooper Bay:
When the first small flocks of this noble Asiatic visitant
appeared on Point Dall on May 16 the receding snow seemed
to emphasize its golden splendor. It never became really
common like its larger relative, the black-bellied plover,
but numerous individuals and small bands were observed
which, however, proved to be transients, for they all
departed by early June. They usually associated with the
gaudily attired ruddy turnstone and the combined lavish
color effect of these two feathered gems was lovely indeed
to behold. The Eskimos claim that, when seal hunting off
Point Dall, they often encountered birds of the present
species flying shoreward, so perhaps many of these
long-flighted migrants moved directly from the western
section of the Aleutian Islands across Bering Sea to their
Alaskan summer homes.
_Nesting._--Mr. Brandt has sent me the following notes on the nesting
habits of this plover:
The breeding realm of the aristocratic golden plover in
the Hooper Bay region is confined to a narrow belt on
the mountain slopes well above brush line in the Askinuk
Range. Here at an altitude of from five to eight hundred
feet dwells a pair nearly every half mile, or about the
same relative distance apart that the black-bellied plover
families maintain between themselves on the tundra below.
The only nest of the Pacific golden plover to come under
my observation was found on June 27 at an altitude of 600
feet on the Bimute spur of the Askinuk Range. On this
upper mountain slope amid the scattered rocky outcrops
exists a grim Arctic flora of mosses and lichens which
in patches is mottled black and grayish white. On one of
these velvet-like spots a little top moss is removed by the
birds so as to make a slight depression in which the four
beautiful eggs are placed. The lining of the nest is simply
a few short unarranged stems of the reindeer moss that no
doubt grew on the site. The nesting cavity is 4 inches in
diameter and only half an inch in depth, thus making it
notable as perhaps the most meager of the limicoline abodes
we found. The parti-colored eggs and their environs blend
as one in coloration, so, even in that jaeger-ridden land,
they enjoy unusual protective security. The male bird alone
was present during my stay in the vicinity of his abiding
place and failed to exhibit either the extreme timidity or
the agitation so characteristic of the black-bellied plover.
Henry Seebohm (1901) gives the following account of finding a nest near
the banks of the Yenesei River in Siberia:
On the top of the bank I found myself on the real tundra.
Not a trace of a pine tree was visible, and the birches
rarely exceeded 12 inches in height. There was less grass,
more moss and lichen, and the ground was covered with
patches of yellow mud or clay, in which were a few small
stones, that were apparently too barren for even moss or
lichen to grow upon. The tundra was hilly, with lakes,
swamps, and bogs in the wide valleys and plains. As soon
as I reached the flat bogs I heard the plaintive cry of a
plover, and presently caught sight of two birds. The male
was very conspicuous, but all my attempts to follow the
female with my glass, in order to trace her to the nest,
proved ineffectual; she was too nearly the color of the
ground, and the herbage was too high. Feeling convinced
that I was within 30 paces of the nest, I shot the male,
and commenced a diligent search. The bird proved to be
the Asiatic golden plover, with gray axillaries, and I
determined to devote at least an hour looking for the nest.
By a wonderful piece of good fortune I found it, with four
eggs, in less than five minutes. It was merely a hollow in
the ground upon a piece of turfy land, overgrown with moss
and lichen, and was lined with broken stalks of reindeer
moss. The eggs more resembled those of the golden than
those of the grey plover, but were smaller than either.
Miss Maud D. Haviland (1915_a_) had considerable experience with this
plover on the Yenesei and took some excellent photographs of it; she
writes:
I first saw a few birds at Dudinka, where they were
probably on migration, and afterwards the species was
common all the way down to Golchika. Each pair occupied
perhaps 2 furlongs of tundra. I should think that every
acre of moss and lichen from the Yenesei to the Lena in
summer is thus parceled out. Your progress across the
tundra in July is heralded and attended by a chorus of
plaintive cries. Both birds meet you a quarter of a mile
from the nest and never leave you until you are at the
boundaries of their own territory, and they can safely hand
you over to their next neighbors for espionage. Covert, of
course, there is none--but it is needless to say more. The
suspiciousness and patience of the golden plover are the
same all the world over; and I will not dwell upon them to
those who themselves have no doubt walked vainly for half a
day about the bird’s breeding grounds in this country and
listened to its maddening but at the same time most musical
protests.
The first nest was found on July 4. It was a shallow
depression, lined with dry lichen haulms on a slope of the
tundra. The bird, which must, I think, either have been
deaf or else exceedingly stupid, did not move until I was
well over the hill and within 60 yards of her, when she
jumped up and feigned a broken wing.
_Eggs._--The eggs are similar to those of the American golden plover;
the ground colors average paler. In three sets they run from “light
buff” to “cream color”; Mr. Brandt’s eggs run from “ivory yellow” to
“vinaceous buff”; and in two eggs figured by Mr. Poynting (1895) the
ground colors are in shades of “olive buff.” Mr. Brandt says in his
notes:
The eggs of this bird are no doubt subject to much
variation for the two sets are very different. On one the
surface markings are distinct and elongated longitudinally
while on the other clutch large blotches almost cover the
larger end. These spots are brownish black to black where
the pigment is rich, but when occasionally it is thin, as
on a few outlying edges, it becomes brick red. Pursuant to
the usual rule with many of the boldly marked eggs of the
shore birds the underlying spots are few and ill defined.
These are in lavender tones from pale mouse gray to grayish
lavender.
The measurements of 34 eggs average 48 by 33.2 millimeters; the eggs
showing the four extremes measure =51.8= by 32.5, 48.5 by =34.9=,
=45.2= by 32.4, and 46.4 by =31.5= millimeters.
_Young._--The incubation period is probably the same as it is for the
European bird, 27 days; both sexes incubate the eggs and care for the
young. Thayer and Bangs (1914) write:
Mr. Koren watched the habits of the birds closely and found
that the males appear to do all the incubating in the early
stages, the female at that time never being near the nest.
Later on, when the eggs are nearly ready to hatch, she
appears again and takes her turn with the male. When the
young are hatched, both parent birds are always with them.
At Cape Chelakhskai, August 27, 1912, large flocks of young
birds were seen ready to migrate.
Miss Haviland (1915_a_) says:
As soon as the young ones were able to run alone, which,
roughly speaking, was about July 20, the birds left the
higher ground and began to collect into flocks in the
marshy places of the tundra. I am inclined to think that
the young birds must need to wash and drink a great deal,
as otherwise it is not easy to understand why all the
waders of the tundra should leave the nesting sites so
early and wander down to the sphagnum swamps. Some of the
Asiatic golden plover even crossed the mud hills and came
down to the banks of the river.
_Plumages._--The downy young Pacific golden plover is like the American
bird of the same age except that the yellow is rather brighter, about
“lemon chrome,” and decidedly more extensive; it predominates over the
black on the crown, back, and rump; there is very little white anywhere
except in the patch under the eye and on the chin, throat, and under
parts. Miss Haviland (1915_a_), however, says:
The white tract between the homogeneous mottling of the
crown and nape, and the successive black and yellow
bands which lie above and behind the eye, and which in
_C. apricarius_ is sometimes hardly discernible, is very
pronounced in _C. fulvus_ and has enlarged at the expense
of the colored bands below it. The nape and upper part of
the body are more spotted with white, and there is little
or no yellow on the cheek below the eye.
Subsequent plumages and molts are apparently similar to those of the
other golden plovers. Doctor Henshaw (1910) writes:
It is of interest to note that in fall this plover migrates
before it molts; in spring it molts before it migrates.
The first birds to reach the archipelago in August are,
as stated, adults, and while they are practically in full
breeding dress they begin to molt into the winter dress
almost at once. The molting season for the species is
long, and many individuals, doubtless birds of the year,
may be found the last of December still molting into the
fall and winter dress. By the middle of February numerous
individuals are already beginning to molt a second time
and to assume the distinctive nuptial plumage, which, in
the case of these early birds, is practically completed
during the month of March, though individuals continue to
moult far into April and some no doubt complete the final
stages in Alaska. Doubtless the individuals to molt first
in spring are the adults which arrive first, and finish
the fall molt first; and doubtless, too, these are the
birds first to leave Hawaii for their breeding grounds in
Alaska. So protracted is the molt of the species that it
is probably true that during the stay of this plover in
Hawaii--from middle August till May--there is not a month
when some individuals are not molting.
There is no reason for believing that the plover summering
in the islands which, as before stated, are chiefly if not
wholly immature birds, participate in the spring molt. At
all events the Hawaiian summer plover and turnstones that I
have seen were, without exception, in the winter garb.
_Food._--Lucien M. Turner (1886) says that, on their first arrival in
Alaska, the plover “feed principally on berries of the _Vaccinium_ and
_Empetrum_, as many of these berries do not dislodge until succeeding
growths push them off.” Others have noted the same habit in late summer
and early fall. Some observers on the Pribilof Islands have noted
that they frequent the killing grounds and feed extensively on the
blowfly maggots there. But Preble and McAtee (1923) say that in the two
stomachs that they examined “none of these larvæ were found, their food
contents consisting of beetles, 72.5 per cent; flies, 22.5 per cent;
Hymenoptera, 4 per cent; and seeds of crowberry (_Empetrum nigrum_), 1
per cent.”
Doctor Henshaw (1910) writes:
During its stay in the islands the plover, as also the
turnstone, feed chiefly in the upland pastures and
clearings, up to 6,000 or 7,000 feet, and on newly
plowed cane land. Both the sugar planter and the stock
raiser have much to thank the plover for, since, while
the birds feed on small seeds to some extent, they live
chiefly on insects, and according to Perkins, on insects
of much economic importance, since they depend largely
on the caterpillars of two of the most widely spread and
destructive of the island “cut worms.” These insects are
most abundant when the grass on the island pastures is
green and luxuriant, and this usually is in winter, when
rains are most copious.
_Behavior._--The general behavior of the Pacific golden plover is not
different from that of its commoner relatives. My personal acquaintance
with it was made on the high rolling tundra and the foothills back of
Nome, Alaska. Here we found it quite common during the middle of July,
where it was evidently breeding or had been breeding; and we collected
quite a series of adults, juvenals, and even downy young. As we walked
over the tundra, we frequently heard their rich, melodious, whistling
notes, or saw a richly colored adult, in full nuptial plumage, standing
like a sentinel on some little hummock or ridge. Occasionally one would
try to entice us away by running slowly through the hollows or by
fluttering along the ground as if injured; but eventually it would take
wing and circle back to where its young were probably hidden.
Mr. Brandt says in his notes:
The Pacific golden plover’s adroit movements in
approaching his nest, made to deceive the hostile eye,
were interesting, and well illustrate the tactics of the
members of the plover family found about Hooper Bay. He
would run rapidly without visible bodily effort, and then
stop abruptly and remain motionless, not even turning his
head. His course always lay across the little ridges, never
along them, and he would follow the slight depressions, but
usually came to a halt on a little eminence. When close to
me, in order to get a wider range of vision, he would raise
himself on the terminal joints of his toes and stretch up
his neck, all with a jerky motion, the whole reminding me
somewhat of the action of the burrowing owl. If agitated
he ran rapidly to and fro, uttering an occasional piping
note, but seldom taking wing.
_Voice._--John T. Nichols describes the notes of this plover very well
as follows:
I have met this western race of the golden plover only on
its breeding grounds (at Nome, Alaska) where its notes
are quite unlike the flight note of the eastern bird in
migration, though some have almost an identical quality
with that call. Running about on the ground, voicing noisy
protest at the invasion of its ground, it has two unlike
cries used interchangeably, _peep!_ etc.; _toodlee_,
etc.; the first plaintive, the second mellow. Other less
frequent notes are _tudleu_ and _tdlu-eep_ suggesting the
semipalmated plover. When the two members of a pair alight
together for a moment a note of greeting suggests in form
the whip-poor-will’s call, _piterweeu, piterweeu, piterwit_
or _peeperwip, peeperweeu, peeperwip_.
A different, striking note is associated with what seems
to be nuptial display. A bird circles at moderate height
waving widespread wings in slow, measured, tern-like
manner, meanwhile uttering a loud, long-drawn, sweet
_pee-er-wee_, and in a few minutes dives to the tundra
and alights. The form of this call is rather that of the
black-bellied plover though its tone is that of the golden.
Miss Haviland (1915_a_) describes similar notes and observes that,
“roughly speaking, the alarm note of the common golden plover is
monosyllabic; that of the Asiatic golden plover is dissyllabic; and
that of the gray plover is distinctly trisyllabic in character.”
_Fall._--The plover which breed in Alaska migrate over Bering Sea,
stopping on the Pribilof Islands; the first birds, probably adults,
come during August; the young birds come later, mainly in September and
October, with one very late date, November 5. The few available dates
for the Aleutian and Commander Islands are also late, September and
October, probably young birds. The first birds to reach the Hawaiian
Islands are adults in breeding plumage; they arrive about the middle or
latter part of August; and Doctor Henshaw (1910) says “that they are
invariably in good flesh and that some are very fat. Later arrivals,
however, no doubt young of the year, are comparatively poor in flesh
and require considerable time to fatten.” This flight to these islands
is a most remarkable feat, for, even granted that they can rest and
feed to some extent on the surface of the ocean, it still remains a
mystery how they can find this little group of islands in the middle
of such a vast expanse of ocean. Doctor Henshaw (1910) makes some
suggestions which throw some light on the subject; he says:
About September the wind that prevails in the North Pacific
immediately south of the Aleutians is from the northwest.
It is generally believed that migrating birds prefer to
fly on a beam wind. By heading southwest, birds migrating
to Hawaii might have the northwest abeam till about the
neighborhood of latitude 30° where they would be almost
sure to pick up the northeast trades. By then changing
their course to southeast they would be enabled to fly with
wind abeam till they sighted the islands. The Hawaiian
Archipelago with the chain of low islands and sand spits to
the northwest afford a reasonable chance for a successful
landfall, since unitedly they stretch away in a very thin
line for some 2,200 miles. Moreover the islands are close
enough together so that migrants high in air would not be
likely to miss them by passing between.
The birds which breed in Siberia are probably those that migrate
through Mongolia and Japan and spend the winter in India, Burma, the
Malay Archipelago, and Australia.
_Winter._--Maj. G. Ralph Meyer has sent me the following notes on this
plover in the Hawaiian Islands:
The plover are very plentiful and I see them passing over
every day. They usually arrive about the middle of August
and remain until the middle of March. Along about that
time of the year they seem to congregate on the flats on
the northeast end of the island and probably leave from
there on the long flight to Alaska. During the winter they
alternate between the plains of the high central plateau of
the island and the lowland on both sides of the island. On
the east side there is some low grassy land and they are
common there. On this side they frequent tide flats during
the low tides and then go up into the central plateau
during the high tides. They perhaps spend some of the time
in sheltered ponds on this side and wherever they can find
muddy flats on which to feed.
The call note when flying is usually a whistled _too-whee_,
easily imitated. They answer to the call note very readily
and we use this when hunting them. We use plover decoys,
placing them in the mud flats during high tide, and then at
the turning of the tide the birds come from the direction
of the mountains to feed. The decoys are placed on the
highest part of the flats, so that the birds will have no
other place to alight. We face the decoys up the wind, as
the birds usually face that way when they are feeding. As
they come near we call to them, merely imitating their
call. They will circle around and finally decoy very nicely
if they are not alarmed by any sudden movement. When
circling around decoys they make a sort of chuckling noise,
which I can not describe except as a chuckling whistle.
Occasionally a wandering tattler will decoy and very often
we get turnstones. On one occasion last year I saw a flock
of about 20 to 30 birds, apparently turnstones, flying in a
“V” or semicircle formation, and the leader was undoubtedly
a plover. The birds were a couple of hundred feet in the
air, so I could not be sure of the turnstones, but I was
sure of the plover. He was leading them, for they followed
him wherever he went. On a visit to Hawaii in July, 1916,
I found plover on the slopes of Mauna Loa, one of the high
mountains of the island. I have never seen them on this
island during the summer.
W. B. Alexander tells me that this plover is--
a common visitor to Australian coasts, especially in
summer, though some appear to be present at all seasons.
While in Australia this species is usually found in small
flocks and is partial to reedy swamps and the margins of
lakes, as well as to estuaries fringed with mangroves. In
fact, it evidently likes cover, though it may be met with
on the open sea beach.
In his notes from Australia, Charles Barrett says:
All parts of the Commonwealth receive their quota of golden
plover, and in the southern portions of the country the
birds are seen about the end of October (early summer).
The species is nowhere very plentiful (A. J. Campbell),
but I have seen it often, singly, or in small flocks, in
different localities, chiefly along the seashore and on
swampy land, seeking small shellfish, etc. Sometimes it
associates with the black-bellied plover (_Squatarola
squatarola_). In the Capricorn Group I met with it in fair
numbers on the Masthead Island beaches. Like other migrants
observed among the isles, the plover were fresh arrivals,
and each day their numbers increased. They were in poor
condition and seemed to be exhausted after their great
migratory flight. Some of the specimens taken by collectors
in our party still retained some of the breeding plumage;
in one example the breast was almost black.
In New South Wales I observed this species on the sand
spits at the sea entrance to Wallis Lake in October, 1921.
They were wary, but through field glasses we could see
them busily seeking for food. In my own State, Victoria,
specimens have been taken both in the summer and winter
plumage. The birds frequent open grass country, as well
as the seashore; in fact, they are more abundant often
in country of this class than elsewhere in a district.
Frequently, however, they are seen along river banks and on
sea beaches, feeding in company with other species.
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--Alaska, Asia, Australia, and Oceania; casual in Europe and on
the Pacific coast of North America.
_Breeding range._--The Pacific golden plover breed mainly in Siberia
but, as mentioned under _Pluvialis d. dominica_, they range also to
western Alaska, where they apparently meet and intergrade with their
eastern relatives. The breeding range may be stated as extending north
to eastern Siberia (Yenisei River, Cape Chelyuskin, Liakhof Island,
Nijni Kolymsk, Cape Baranof, Chaun Bay, and Cape Serdze); and Alaska
(Wainwright). East to Alaska (Wainwright, probably Point Hope, probably
Cape Blossom, Cape Prince of Wales, Nome, St. Michael, and Igiak Bay).
South to Alaska (Igiak Bay); and Siberia (Bering Island, Kamchatka, and
the Yenisei River). West to western Siberia (Yenisei River).
_Winter range._--The winter range extends north to India, China, Japan,
and to Hawaiian Islands (Midway, Kauai, and Maui Islands). East to
the Hawaiian Islands (Maui), Polynesia, and New Zealand. South to New
Zealand and Tasmania. West to Tasmania, Australia, Melanesia, Java,
Borneo, and India.
_Migration._--The migration of the Pacific golden plover nesting in
Alaska, appears to be entirely oceanic, the flight in both directions
being without intermediate stops. Nonbreeding individuals frequently
remain all summer in the Hawaiian Islands and at other points in
Oceania.
_Spring migration._--Early dates of arrival are: China, Soochow, April
18, Shanghai, April 21, and Canton, April 30; Japan, Hakodate, May 7;
Siberia, Bering Island, May 15, and Nijni Kolymsk, May 30; and Alaska,
St. Michael, May 2, Bethel, May 8, Portage Bay, May 13, Hooper Bay, May
16, and Cape Prince of Wales, May 19.
_Fall migration._--Late dates of fall departure are: Alaska, mouth of
the Yukon River, October 12, St. Paul Island, October 25, and Attu
Island, October 31; and Siberia, Bering Island, October 28.
_Casual records._--This species has been reported as a casual from
Algeria, Malta, Italy, Spain, Heligoland, Poland, and the British
Isles (B. O. U.). In North America, specimens identified as this race,
have been collected in British Colombia, Comox, November 2, 3, and 4,
1903, and Masset, August 10, 1920; Washington, Kahlotus, December 19,
1924; Idaho, Lake Chatcolet, October 1, 1923; and Maine, Scarborough,
September 11, 1911.
_Egg Dates._--Bering Sea coast of Alaska: 15 records, May 23 to July 1;
8 records, June 11 to 27. Siberia: 5 records, June 30 to July 5.