Black-bellied Plover  Pluvialis squatarola
Copyright Mark Tiefenbach
Deepbrook Nature Photography
Copyright Mark Tiefenbach
Deepbrook Nature Photography
Black-bellied Plover 
Pluvialis squatarola

The largest plover in North America, the Black-bellied plover breeds in high Artic zones of Tundra and winters on the shores of six continents.  It functions worldwide as a sentinel for mixed groups of shorebirds as it is wary and quick to give alarm calls.  These qualities had allowed it to resist the market hunters and it remained common when populations of similar sized species were devastated.
Its diet consists of insects, mollusks, crustaceans and marine worms.  As in all plovers, it forages in a run, stop and pluck, feeding style.