The European Golden Plover (Pluvialis apricaria) is the bog's golden-speckled wader, with a black face and belly in the male's breeding plumage and a melancholic whistling call carried across fell and mire. It measures 26-29 cm in length, has a wingspan of about 67-76 cm and weighs around 150-220 grams. The upperparts are handsomely golden-speckled year-round. In breeding plumage the bird shows a black face, black throat and black belly, framed by a pale white line along the sides; in winter plumage the underside is pale sandy-grey and the pattern more subdued. The pale underwing is a good field mark in flight.
The contact call is a melancholic, clear, drawn-out whistle, a mournful "tlui" that carries far over mire and fell, while the male's display call is a plaintive, undulating "tuu-vii" repeated in song flight. The species breeds mainly on fell heaths and large bogs in northern Sweden, with a smaller southern population on heathland in Skåne and on Öland; the Swedish population is estimated at 30,000-50,000 pairs. Globally classed as of Least Concern, the southern Swedish population has nonetheless declined as heaths and bogs have become overgrown or drained. It nests on the ground, the nest a shallow scrape on a dry tussock lined with lichens and grass stems; the female lays usually 4 eggs, incubated by both parents for about four weeks. The chicks are precocial, feeding themselves while still led and guarded by the parents. The diet consists of insects, earthworms and other invertebrates, supplemented with berries especially in autumn and winter, and the bird forages in typical plover style, with short runs followed by pecking pauses.
Read about this species in Swedish →