The Semipalmated Plover is a small, neat shorebird that looks like a miniature, single-banded Killdeer, brown above and white below with one dark band across the chest, an orange-and-black bill, and bright orange legs. Its name comes from the partial webbing ("semipalmations") between its toes, visible only at very close range. Like other plovers it forages with a distinctive run-and-stop rhythm, dashing a few steps across the flat, pausing to grab prey, then dashing again.
Semipalmated Plovers nest on the gravel and tundra of the far north and pass through Michigan as migrants, appearing on mudflats, sandy shorelines, and beaches in spring and again through a longer window in fall. They often mix with small sandpipers and other shorebirds, their tidy single breast band and plover posture setting them apart. The soft, whistled "chu-weet" call carries across the flats as flocks feed and move along the water's edge.
Feeds on insects, marine and aquatic worms, small crustaceans, and other invertebrates picked from mudflats and shorelines using the plover's run-stop-peck technique. It hunts by sight along the water's edge, snatching prey exposed on the surface of mud and sand.
The Semipalmated Plover is much smaller and has a single dark breast band, while the Killdeer is larger with two breast bands and a long tail. Both share the brown-backed, white-bellied plover look and run-and-stop foraging.
It refers to the partial webbing between the bird's toes, visible only at close range. Several shorebirds share the name for the same feature, including the Semipalmated Sandpiper.
As a migrant in spring and, over a longer window, in fall, on mudflats, sandy shorelines, and beaches. It nests in the far north and does not breed in the state.
Juveniles have a brown rather than black breast band and face mask, and a mostly dark bill without the adult's orange base. Chicks are downy and run within hours of hatching.
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