Pluvialis squatarola
Silhouette: Emily Willoughby · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The grey plover or black-bellied plover (Pluvialis squatarola) is a large plover breeding in Arctic regions. It is a long-distance migrant, with a nearly worldwide coastal distribution when not breeding. The grey plover was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Tringa squatarola. It is now placed with three other plovers in the genus Pluvialis that was introduced by the French ornithologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The genus name is Latin and means relating to rain, from pluvia, "rain". It was believed that they flocked when rain was imminent. The species name squatarola is a Latinised version of Sgatarola, a Venetian name for some kind of plover.
The English common name used for this species differs in different parts of the world. It is generally known as "grey plover" in the Old World and "black-bellied plover" in the New World. Three subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Kuwait City | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | |
| 3 | Maputo | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 4 | Manama | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | |
| 5 | Havana | 🇨🇺 Cuba | |
| 6 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 7 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 8 | Casablanca | 🇲🇦 Morocco | |
| 9 | Rabat | 🇲🇦 Morocco | |
| 10 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monterey Bay Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Seattle Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Montreal Biodome | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Seattle Marine Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-bellied Plover sighting in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, based on 1,248 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 86th most-seen of the 279 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August to June
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-bellied Plover in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, against under 5% in July, the lowest month.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-bellied Plover sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
17th of 64
Of the 64 parks where we can rate Black-bellied Plover sightings, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge ranks 17th at about 10%. The best odds are in Padre Island National Seashore (United States, about 60%), West Coast National Park (South Africa, about 60%) and Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve (Mexico, about 50%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-bellied Plover is recorded against all the birds logged in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (1,248 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
