General Information

References cited in Species Profile

• Andres, B. A., and K. L. Stone. 2009. Conservation Plan for the Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus), Version 1.0. Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, Manomet, Massachusetts.
• Andrews, R. and R. Righter. 1992. Colorado birds: a reference to their distribution and habitat. Denver Mus. Nat. Hist. Denver, CO.
• Bergeron, D., C. Jones, D. L. Genter, and D. Sullivan. 1992. P. D. Skaar's Montana bird distribution. Montana Nat. Heritage Prog. Spec. Publ. No. 2.
• Hayman, P., J. Marchant, and T. Prater. 1986. Shorebirds: an identification guide to the waders of the world. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, MA.
• Hubbard, J. P. 1978. The breeding and seasonal status of the Mountain Plover in New Mexico. N. Mex. Ornithol. Soc. Bull. 6(1):2-6.
• Hunting, K. W., S. Fitton, and L. Edson. 2001. Distribution and habitat associations of the Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus) in California. Trans. West. Sec. The Wildl. Soc. 37:37-42.
• Knopf, F. L. 1996. Prairie legacies-birds. in Prairie conservation: preserving North America's most endangered ecosystem. (Samson, F. B. and F. L. Knopf, Eds.) Island Press, Covelo, CA.
• Knopf, F. L. and J. R. Rupert. 1995. Habits and habitats of Mountain Plovers in California.Condor 97:743-751.
• Knopf, Fritz L. and M. B. Wunder. 2006. Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/211
• Luan, H. C. 1957. A life history study of the Mountain Plover, Eupoda montana, Townsend on the Laramie Plains, Albany County, Wyoming. Master's Thesis. Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie.
• Oakleaf, B., B. Luce, S. Ritter, and A. Cerovski. 1992. Wyoming bird and mammal atlas.Wyoming Game Fish Dept. Lander.
• Small, A. 1994. California birds: their status and distribution. Ibis Publ. Co. Vista, CA.
• Wunder, M. B. and F. L. Knopf. 2003. Imperial Valley agriculture is critical to wintering Mountain Plovers. J. Field Ornithol. 74:74-80.

Habitat Requirements

Mountain Plovers are generally found in open, flat, dry tablelands with low, sparse vegetation. Nests are simple scrapes in the ground, which males begin forming soon after their arrival in breeding areas. After eggs are laid, lichen grass roots, leaves and dried chips of cow manure are added until eggs are about half buried.

Food Habits

An opportunistic forager, mainly feeding on ground-dwelling invertebrates. Typical foraging behavior includes making a short run of about 1 m, then stopping to survey for insects moving on the surface. Once prey is spotted, Mountain Plovers make a second, quick run and jab to secure it.

Movement / Home Range

Breeding occurs in east-central and southwestern Montana, tablelands of Wyoming, eastern Colorado plains, northeast and locally to west-central and north-central New Mexico, as well as in Oklahoma and Texas panhandles. Most birds winter from north-central California to the Mexico border, with some birds west of the Coast Range in southern countries. They depart California wintering grounds in early and mid-March, either flying nonstop over the Sierra Nevada Great Basin and Rocky Mountains to breeding areas, or moving eastward across Arizona and New Mexico before flying northward to breeding areas of Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming.

Other

There are several issues threatening the conservation of mountain plovers, including: shooting and trapping made easier by their flocking nature, degradation of habitat resulting from removal of primary, native grazers which alter native grasslands, and disturbance at nest sites caused by direct impact on nests and eggs. Breeding Bird Survey data indicates a decline rate of 3.7% per year from 1966 to 1993. That rate translated into an approximate two-thirds reduction in the population during that 25 year period, even though the BBS survey routes are not distributed evenly within the species' habitat. For more information about this species, refer to the following resource: <li>Andres, B. A., and K. L. Stone. 2009. Conservation Plan for the Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus), Version 1.0. Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, Manomet, Massachusetts. <a href="https://www.fws.gov/cno/conservation/MountainPlover_ConsPlan_09-05-28a.pdf"> https://www.fws.gov/cno/conservation/MountainPlover_ConsPlan_09-05-28a.pdf</a>