Plovers & Lapwings in Massachusetts
Our list for Massachusetts has 5 plovers & lapwings recorded regularly there: 2 summer visitors, 2 passage migrants and 1 scarce visitor
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in Massachusetts in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 5, most common first
Semipalmated PloverCharadrius semipalmatusPassage migrantCommon17–19 cmRegularly May–Oct
Grey PloverPluvialis squatarolaSummer visitorCommon27–30 cmRegularly Apr–Dec
Piping PloverCharadrius melodusSummer visitorUncommon17–18 cmRegularly Mar–Sep
American Golden-PloverPluvialis dominicaPassage migrantUncommon24–28 cmRegularly Aug–Oct
Northern LapwingVanellus vanellusScarceRare28–31 cm
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
- Northern Lapwing 28–31 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