Historical Status of European Golden-Plovers in Newfoundland and Labrador

Following is a summary of historical records of European Golden-Plovers (EUGP) in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, including five major Spring flights to our shores, and a discussion regarding associated weather conditions.

EUGP is a species that breeds in Iceland, Northern Europe and Northwestern Siberia. There also appears to be a very small population breeding in Eastern Greenland. 

Distribution of the European Golden-Plover 
Copyright: Lynx Edicions/BirdLife International


Every Spring anticipation is in the air. Instead of enjoying the return of mild temperatures and sunny days, like the rest of Canada, birders on the rock are looking for gloomy winds arriving from the East that bring fog, mist and a magical golden sparkle. 

What Spring dreams are made of 


Regularly, despite not breeding in North America, this species is found in our province. In fact, between the years 2000 and 2024, the species has been recorded 20 out of 25 years in the province, involving hundreds, if not thousands of individuals. 

Remarkably, all but a few of the thousands of records in the province are during a 9-week period between April 2nd and June 2nd. 

Additional records, outside that 9-week period are:

  • Male and female in the Summer of 2022 near Cape Freels
  • An early November record from 2005 in St. Shott's
  • Three other records are worth mentioning, as they were identified as EUGP at the time, but subsequently deemed to be insufficiently described to rule out the even rarer Pacific Golden-Plover:
    • One from Cape St. Mary's mid June 1981
    • One with photos at St. Paul's July 14, 1985
    • One on Funk Island, Aug 12, 1988 

The eBird graph of their frequency neatly displays the 9-week period when EUGPs are traditionally found in NL:

Note that 95%+ of all European Golden-Plover records for the province are now available on eBird


Note the white underwing - this distinguishes EUGP from the similar American and Pacific Golden-Plovers

The very first record of this species in the province (and North America, for that matter) was in the Spring of 1961. This event was nicely summarized by Les Tuck in The Auk, Volume 85.

"During the foggy night of 18 April 1961, Golden Plovers were heard circling St. John's. This was strange, as Golden Plovers were never reported previously in spring in Newfoundland. Small flocks, totaling several hundred in all, were reported from the Avalon Peninsula within the next several days."

Back in those days, birds were regularly collected, including this one from the 1961 flight in Cappahayden:

Specimen in the Canadian Museum of Nature - photographed in 2024. 
Courtesy Gregory Rand, Acting Curator.

In 1988, Bruce Mactavish summarized the records up to that date in The Bullbird, A Newfoundland Birdwatching Journal (sound familiar?!) after they experienced what remains the biggest flight to date. You can read that summary here. In that article, he summarizes the preceding EUGP records:

1. 1961.   April 18-21, "small flocks totaling hundreds", Avalon Peninsula
2. 1963.   May 24, seven Stephenville Crossing
3. 1964.   May 2-13, three St. Anthony.
4. 1978.   April 26-May 14, twelve L'Anse-aux-Meadows;
                May 1-3, eleven St. Anthony
5. 1981.   mid June, one Cape St. Mary's. [in retrospect, this one may have been a Pacific GP]
6. 1985.   July 14, one St. Paul's Inlet. [in retrospect, this one may have been a Pacific GP]
7. 1988.   Hundreds throughout NL, and dozens in St. Pierre & Miquelon, New Brunswick, and Quebec. See this eBird list that summarizes the excitement that went on in 1988.

Subsequent records in the 20th century include:

8. 1992.   A sprinkling of 12 sightings on the Avalon and Bonavista peninsulas
9. 1994.   At least 205 between April 27 - May 14
10. 1995. Dozens on the Avalon and Bonavista peninsulas
11. 1998. One in Eastport Apr 11-13
12. 1999. A total of six between Salvage on the Bonavista peninsula, and Rocky Harbour on the West coast

As mentioned above, they have been reported in 20 of the following 25 years (95%+ of those records are available on eBird). 

To highlight, there have been at least five major flights:
  • 1961: Hundreds on the Avalon peninsula (arrival April 18)
  • 1988: 350+ throughout NL and into SPM, NB, and QC (arrival April 13)
  • 1994: At least 205 across the province, including 12 in SPM (arrival April 27)
  • 1995: Fourteen reports totaling 91 individuals, including a dozen in Labrador (arrival April 28)
  • 2014: 300+ throughout NL (arrival April 25 to 26)
Interestingly, the next three biggest years, are also the three most recent years (correlated with the growing # of birders in the province):
  • 2022: 40+ throughout NL (arrival April 14)
  • 2023: 20+ throughout (arrival April 21)
  • 2024: 60+ throughout NL (arrival April 2)

WEATHER:

The big question: what were the weather conditions preceding those five major flights? Certainly, winds arriving from the Northeast of the province are a prerequisite. However, there have been many times when a highly anticipated Spring Northeasterly didn't do much beyond deliver RDF (rain, drizzle, fog) and delaying local Spring migrants from returning to their breeding grounds in the province. Boring!

April 26, 2014
A birder diligently searching for a sparkle of gold in the fog
 A legendary day in the history of Newfoundland and Labrador birding


Below is a compilation of surface pressure maps leading up to the arrival of the plovers during those five Springs. Note that these maps were collected from The Weather Outlook. 


Before we look at the maps, it's worth pointing out that it's widely agreed that the EUGP's arriving in NL are trying to reach Iceland. We also know that the Icelandic breeding population is known to winter from Ireland/Britain to Iberia (Portugal + Spain) and even Northern Africa (BOW). We also know that golden-plovers are capable of flying 50 km/h during migration (1200 km per day), and even faster with a tail-wind. It's about 3000-3500 km between our shores and the coast of Ireland and Spain. So these birds should be able to start migration somewhere in Europe, and, with the correct winds, easily reach NL within 2-3 days.

Each of the weather maps below corresponds to the arrival date plus the 24-72 hours prior to the arrival date. Note that the dates are at the top of the images (and for consistency, all maps are from midnight).

Stars on the maps correspond to four locations: NL, Iceland, Ireland/Britain, and Iberia. The white lines are isobars for atmospheric pressures. It takes a bit of familiarity to read these - the main thing to know is that air travels parellel to these lines and counter clockwise around an area of low-pressure, and clockwise around a high-pressure system (in the Northern Hemisphere). To deliver Northeast winds to NL, we are looking for low pressure systems in the Atlantic. Red arrows in the maps show the general direction of wind in that area.

I recommend clicking on the maps, and flipping back and forth through them. Try to come to your own conclusions as to what are the consistent patterns that result in EUGP's arriving in NL.



















In multiple publications, the conditions propelling EUGPs to NL have been described. Ultimately it comes down to the presence of one or two low pressure systems funneling strong Northeast winds from Europe towards NL. 

One thing I find noteworthy, is that these birds could just as easily be arriving from Iberia versus Ireland. In fact, based on the 1961 and 1988 maps, it looks like the birds are more likely to have come from Iberia, while those in Ireland should not be migrating. I also suspect that the birds migrating from Iberia to Iceland have a migratory route that normally takes them further out over the Atlantic ocean. 

Personally, I think the majority of EUGP's we get in NL are from Portugal/Spain and maybe even North Africa, and not from Ireland! Without a tracked bird, I don't know if we can say for sure. As with many things, the truth likely lies somewhere in the middle (i.e. EUGPs can reach NL from Iberia and Ireland).

My main takeaway from this exercise is: not only do we need Northeasterly winds to funnel European birds towards NL in the Spring. We need a sequence of: optimal weather conditions to trigger migration in Southwestern Europe towards Iceland, which precedes Northeasterly winds in Newfoundland.

Here's hoping that Spring 2025 is filled with more European Golden-Plovers!

Somewhere, deep in the navigation center of European Golden-Plovers, there is an atom directing these birds to Newfoundland and Labrador, as a back-up plan, when the winds towards Iceland aren't favorable.


One thing I haven't brought up is the NAO. Some folks look to the North Atlantic Oscillation to help predict or understand trans-Atlantic movements of birds. Frankly, I've tried reading into this several times and very quickly become overwhelmed with the technical jargon. Suffice it to say, I see absolutely no correlation between the NAO and the arrival of EUGP's to NL. It may be more relevant for movements of other bird species during different seasons.

- Alvan


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