A very small bird. Black cap with golden crown, white eyebrow, greenish-gray back, gray belly, two white wing bars. Call is a very high-pitched series of notes, all on one pitch “tsee tsee tsee”.

DESCRIPTION: The western snowy plover is a very small bird, weighing less than two ounces and growing to be about six inches long. It is pale brown on top and white below, with a white hind neck ...

It has, on occasions, been seen to eat small fish ... find no record of mallard bird predation in the scientific literature, which suggests such behaviour is both "very rare" and newly-learned.