noun
: either of two gregarious plovers of the genus Pluvialis having dark upperparts spotted with gold in all plumages and a dark black belly in breeding birds:
a. : one ( P. apricaria ) that breeds in northern Europe and northwestern Asia and winters from northern Africa to eastern India
b. : one ( P. dominica ) that breeds in the Arctic tundra and on Arctic beaches of America and Siberia and winters in Hawaii and the southern hemisphere