what do plovers eat

Plovers primarily eat a variety of small animals, mostly invertebrates. Their diet mainly consists of worms, small insects such as flies, beetles, ants, spiders, grasshoppers, and crickets, as well as crustaceans like shrimp and crabs. Some species and populations also consume small mollusks and insect larvae. In some cases, they also eat seeds and berries. They typically forage by running along beaches, sand, or tundra, stopping to peck at prey they spot, often disturbing the ground or sand to expose hidden food items. This "run- stop-peck" method is common among plovers. More specifically, piping plovers eat insects, marine worms, and crustaceans by foraging along coastal beaches, while American golden-plovers include a variety of larval and adult insects, spiders, snails, and small crustaceans in their diet, sometimes complemented by berries during migration seasons. Thus, plovers have a diet centered on small invertebrates, with some variation depending on species and habitat, but mainly constituting insects, worms, and crustaceans.