Plovers & Lapwings in Illinois
Our list for Illinois has 4 plovers & lapwings recorded regularly there: 3 summer visitors and 1 passage migrant
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in Illinois in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 4, most common first
Semipalmated PloverCharadrius semipalmatusSummer visitorUncommon17–19 cmRegularly May–Sep
Piping PloverCharadrius melodusSummer visitorUncommon17–18 cmRegularly Apr–Aug
Grey PloverPluvialis squatarolaPassage migrantUncommon27–30 cmRegularly May–Nov
American Golden-PloverPluvialis dominicaSummer visitorUncommon24–28 cmRegularly Mar–Oct
Smallest to largest
Length, cm- Piping Plover 17–18 cm
- Semipalmated Plover 17–19 cm
- American Golden-Plover 24–28 cm
- Grey Plover 27–30 cm
Body length, bill to tail. Rare birds in grey.
Data: EOD – eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), accessed via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0. Records from 2019–2024, aggregated and filtered by Birdfact. How these lists are made