Migration path of American golden-plovers breeding across the Nearctic tundra

Many populations of migratory birds are currently declining. Understanding of space use throughout the entire annual cycle, as well as migratory connectivity (i.e., geographic linkage of individuals and populations across different stages of the annual cycle), can improve our ability to identify factors driving population declines and influencing extinction risk. The main objectives of our study were to i) document the space use and phenology of migration during the non-breeding period and ii) quantify the degree of migratory connectivity across the range of the American Golden-Plover (Pluvialis dominica) breeding across the North American Arctic. American Golden-Plovers breed across their entire breeding range (northern North America) and migrate up to their main wintering site located in South America. We used archival light-level geolocators to track the migration. We quantified migratory connectivity based on the non-breeding range spread of all individuals and the breeding populati..., Capturing and marking plovers
Incubating adult American Golden-Plovers were captured at eight study sites distributed across the species’ entire breeding range (Figure 1B). The studied breeding populations were separated by an average distance of 1,864 km, with a maximum separation of approximately 3,800 km (between Nome and Bylot Island; Figure 2). Plover nests were located by searching suitable habitats, and individuals were captured using a 60-cm dome bow net placed over the nest. Birds were fitted with metal and plastic bands, as well as a light-level geolocator (archival data logger) attached to a leg flag, all placed on the tibiotarsus (Figure 1A; Appendix Table S2). Geolocator models deployed included the British Antarctic Survey MK10b (approximately 1.1 g) and the Migrate Technology Ltd. Intigeo W65A9RK (approximately 0.9 g). These devices represented less than 0.8% of the minimum body mass of the plovers (mean mass: 142.4 g; range: 126–162 g; n = 25). Geolocators are archival d..., , # Migration path of American golden-plovers breeding across the Nearctic tundra

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.280gb5n0v](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.280gb5n0v)

## Description of the data and file structure

This dataset contains:

**Geolocator_data: Geolocator_data.zip**\
Data extracted from each geolocator and retrieved from breeding American Golden-Plovers (*pluvialis dominica*). We used 2 different geolocator models, provided by British Antarctic Survey MK10b ( file type used for light level: **.lig**, but also .act, .rtd, .trn, .aer, .ara, .ler, .lra were downloaded from loggers (not used in the analysis relevant in this study) and are provided). Another model provided by Migrate Technology ltd Intigeo geolocators W65A9RK ( file type used for light level: **.driftadj.lux**, but also .lux, .rat, .rai, .deg were downloaded from loggers (not used in the analysis relevant in this study) and are provided).

**Processing Geolocator Data:**

Please refer to the following references f...,