Mountain Plover

Status: Populations have declined from 50 to 89 percent according to a 1991 survey, and their range is shrinking with the disappearance of peripheral populations.

Habitat/Range: Mountain plovers nest on the high plains/shortgrass prairie and desert tablelands. In central and southwestern Montana, southeastern Wyoming, and northeastern Colorado, nesting occurs in shortgrass prairie with a history of heavy grazing or in low-shrub semideserts. Their non-breeding habitat consists of short-grass plains and field, plowed fields, sandy deserts, commercial sod farms and heavily grazed native rangelands, such as in southern California and northern Mexico.

Threats: Conversion of shortgrass prairie to agricultural land, primarily for winter wheat, has destroyed nesting habitat, as has the planting of taller grasses in native prairie. Many nests were on prairie dog towns, which have declined by 98 percent since 1900.

Restoration Potential: There is no chance to restore mountain plovers to historic population levels because of agricultural development of the western Great Plains. They can be stabilized, however, if sites with short, sparse vegetation — such as prairie dog towns and areas grazed by livestock and bison — are protected through prescribed burns.

Places We Are Protecting:

• Saltillo Grasslands Protected Area, Mexico
• Janos Grasslands, Mexico
• Bohart Ranch/ Chico Basin, Colorado
• Western High Plains/ Pawnee National Grasslands, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska
• Matador Ranch, Montana
• Smokey Valley Ranch/ Chalk Bluffs, Kansas
• Cherry Ranch/ Sioux Prairie, Nebraska

Learn More:
View a species management abstract for this bird.

Illustrations by David Allen Sibley from The National Audubon Society: The Sibley Guide to Birds published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. Copyright © 2000 by Chanticleer Press and David Allen Sibley. No illustrations may be copied, reproduced, or reused without the express written permission of the copyright holders.