European Golden Plover

The European golden plover is a medium-sized plover with a back speckled in gold and black, a white belly and a short, fine black bill. It owes its name to this golden plumage, most visible in full sunlight. It looks for food in open fields, meadows and salt marshes, where it finds worms and insects, and often stops to look before taking another step. For centuries it was hunted in the Netherlands and France; its loyalty to its wintering sites made it easy prey. In winter it gathers in large flocks that take off together and wheel over the fields in a rippling cloud. In the Vendée it is seen from autumn to spring.