The Semipalmated Plover is a small, compact shorebird measuring 6.7–7.5 inches in length with a wingspan of 18.5–19.7 inches and weighing about 1.6–1.8 oz. Adults have a plump body, round head, short stubby bill, orange‐and‐black bill, orange legs, gray-brown upperparts, white underparts, and a single black breast band set against a white collar and face. They forage in a characteristic run-and-stop style on mudflats, sandbars, plowed fields, and shoreline margins, feeding by sight on insects, crustaceans, and worms.
In Arizona, Semipalmated Plovers are rare migrants rather than regular breeders or winter residents. Spring passage typically occurs from early April through mid-May, and fall passage from August into September, with most observations coming from mudflats and shallow margins of reservoirs and rivers in Maricopa County and surrounding areas. Winter records are exceptionally scarce.
