American Golden Plover

Pluvialis dominica

Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Charadriidae
Presence in the Strait: Vagrant
IUCN (global): LC · Least concern
In Spanish: Chorlito dorado americano

Photograph: Owen Strickland, CC BY, vía iNaturalist

Length: 23–28 cm
Weight: 160 g

Presence in the Strait

Accidental. Two records. One bird at the mouth of the River Guadarranque (San Roque) on 13.11.53 and another possible record near Tarifa on the 12th & 13th October ‘72.

Identification

Slightly smaller than a European Golden Plover but with grey-brown underwings and a distinct supercilium. They originate from North America.

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.

Calendar in the Strait

100 %

Peak in October. Observations under CC0 or CC BY licences. The distribution also reflects observation effort.

Where it is seen

Open records from the atlas database, in cells of about 3.6 km. Opacity follows the square root of the count, and also reflects where people observe most.

See on the map

First open record: 2 October 2012
Latest record: 22 October 2022

The oldest and the most recent open observation in the extended area. A recent first observation does not mean the species is new: it means nobody had published it openly before.

Conservation

The catalogues, Andalusian and Spanish, are what binds; the Red Book assesses the Spanish population with IUCN criteria, and the global Red List is the context.

LCNTVUENCR

Andalusian Catalogue: Not included
Spanish Catalogue: Not included
Red Book of the Birds of Spain 2021: Outside the Red List (not assessed)
Global Red List (IUCN): LC · Least concern

Andalusian Catalogue: Junta de Andalucía, list of 24 April 2025. Spanish Catalogue: MITECO, table of 30 June 2025. Red Book: SEO/BirdLife, 2021 (Annex I). IUCN: via GBIF, 6 September 2026. Red Book and IUCN categories are assessments; catalogue categories are legal obligations.

Same genus in the Strait

European Golden Plover26–29 cm · Seasonal · overlapping size
Grey Plover27–30 cm · Seasonal · overlapping size

Species of the same genus that also occur here, ordered by how close they are in size. Being relatives does not mean they are confused in the field, but that is where the doubts start: compare size and season.

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Charadriidae
GBIF taxon key: 2480328

Sources

Distribution and calendar: Bioestrecho's own database, ingested from GBIF and OBIS
Photograph: Owen Strickland, CC BY, vía iNaturalist
Taxonomy: GBIF backbone, pending WoRMS for marine taxa
Editorial text: written by Bioestrecho
Last revised: 8 September 2026

American Golden Plover

Presence in the Strait

Identification

Gallery