Chorlitejo picudo (Spanish) Charadrius wilsonia Class: Order: Family: Genus: Aves Charadriiformes Charadriidae Charadrius It is one of seven

plovers found in Costa Rica, where winter visitors augment resident populations on both coasts. It is not completely migratory. Some individuals from the northernmost range migrate south to Brazil in winter, while some residing in Mexico will winter in Peru. Others remain on nesting beaches all year. When breeding season ends, they may gather in small flocks before leaving. They typically live in sparsely vegetated coastal areas such as sandy and shell beaches, barrier and spoil islands, and borders of salt ponds, tidal mudflats, inlets, bays and estuaries. Seldom is it found far from its saltwater environments. Foraging occurs on beaches at low tide using a visual pecking method to locate their food. They are largely nocturnal foragers during the non-breeding season, presumably to avoid diurnal aerial predators. While breeding, feeding strategies change somewhat with males incubating the eggs mostly at night while the females forage. Males and non-breeding individuals will forage during the day. They nest singly or in loose colonies. Nests are typically about 30 metres apart, so incubating birds cannot see each other. In Costa Rica, they nest from February through May or June. Nests are commonly placed near a piece of driftwood, clump of grass or other noticeable object. Clutch size is typically three eggs, which are incubated jointly by the male and female for between 23 and 27 days. The female will incubate the eggs rather irregularly until the final egg is laid. Eggs hatch about 4.537 hours apart. A re-nesting will sometimes be attempted after a nest failure, with the pair remaining together. They are normally monogamous.

Distribution It nests on the Atlantic coast of the United States and southern Canada, and both coasts of Mexico. It also occurs in coastal areas of the Caribbean, Central and South America. Habitat It frequents beaches and near-shore waters viewable from the beach. Food An invertivore, it prefers crustaceans like fiddler crabs, crayfish and shrimp, but also eats mollusks, insects and marine worms. They catch their prey with a running lunge. Reproduction Males perform a ritualized nest-scraping display during courtship, drooping their wings and spreading their tails in front of the females. Once paired, a male makes several shallow nest scrapes in the substrate and the female chooses one.

Development Chicks are precocial and begin walking, often leaving the nest, within one to two hours of hatching. They can feed themselves on their first day. Nonparental females sometimes adopt chicks. Characteristics In contrast to sandpipers, plovers have compact, short-necked bodies and short, thick bills. Its dark bill is large and heavy for its size. It is a quick runner and a strong flyer. Adaptations They are social, flocking birds during daytime roosting, but rather solitary when roosting or foraging at night. This mostly nocturnal, visual-feeder has excellent night vision due to superior rod function, which provides enhanced retina sensitivity. Status/ Threats They are under threat from habitat loss and degradation due to coastal development, sediment diversion and erosion. They are also relatively susceptible to major natural catastrophes such as hurricanes. Sightings at Cao Palma

After hatching, the parents will move the chicks 20-100 metres from the nest to low, wet areas for foraging. The chicks find their own food, but both parents brood the chicks and provide general care for them until they become completely independent. The young may be capable of flight in a minimum of 21 days. As a defense, chicks will drop and lie motionless if approached. Their black-mottled buffy plumage mimics sand and beach debris, making them extremely difficult to see unless they are moving. This is a small plover measuring 17-20 cm and weighing between 55-70 grams. Adults are mainly dark grey with a short white wing bar and white tail sides. The belly is white except for a breast band. In breeding adults, the breast band is black in males and brownish in females. Non-breeding adults of both sexes appear similar. Juveniles are similar to the female, but the breast band is often incomplete. This bird was named after the Scottish-American ornithologist Alexander Wilson. Because their nests are very accessible to predators, adults perform distraction displays of several types. They may vocalize loudly while walking and keeping apace or ahead of the intruder or fly conspicuously and slowly, exposing their undersides. They sometimes engage in false brooding, appearing to sit on a nest when in fact there is no nest in that location or they may dash around pretending to scrape various non-existent nests. Occasionally they do a broken-wing display, faking injury to entice an intruder to follow them far from the actual nest site. Their long legs allow them to wade through water or mud without getting their bodies wet. Increased human recreational use of beaches, unleashed pets and off-road vehicles are a great threat to this shore bird. When disturbed, they will leave their nests and are then reluctant to return while potential predators are anywhere in the area. As a result, the eggs become very vulnerable to predation and overheating. Many of their stopover points during migration, which supply feeding and resting areas, are becoming degraded or disappearing altogether. Environmental contaminants such as oil spills and agricultural pesticides are another potentially serious problem for shorebirds like the Wilsons plover. They fly through the area and can be spotted on the beach.

References The Nature Conservancy (1999) Species Management Abstract Wilsons Plover (Charadrius wilsonia). Retrieved September 24, 2008 from http://conserveonline.org/library/wipl.doc Florida Natural Areas Inventory (2001) Field Guide to the Rare Animals of Florida - Wilsons Plover Charadrius wilsonia. Retrieved September 24, 2008 from http://www.fnai.org/FieldGuide/pdf/Charadrius_wilsonia.PDF

Canadian Organization for Tropical Education and Rainforest Conservation www.coterc.org