[Birdnet] Another Pacific Golden-plover Convert

[Kristin Purdy]

I'm in agreement with the party of birders that observed the Pluvialis plover on Antelope Island Causeway this afternoon--that it's a PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVER. Thanks to Buck and Cindy Russell for refinding the bird and to Susan Saffle for calling me.

I visited the causeway later this afternoon and observed the bird for 2 1/2 hours. Paul Higgins was there in advance and took many superb photographs. 

The bird is definitely an adult and has lots of black splotches on the lower breast and belly and a few spots aft of the legs. Of course, that also indicates the molt is incomplete. I noted several area of worn feathers, including one tertial, the wing coverts below the scaps, and a few scapular and back feathers sprinkled among many more that looked fresh. I believe the remaining flight feathers are also worn because they're a paler shade of brown than the base color of the scapular and back feathers. The notches on those feathers were orange or deep buff against dark brown centers.  

The wingtip projection past the tail is short--perhaps less than 1/4 inch. More importantly, the tertials appeared as long as the tip of the tail. My best look at the primary tips projecting past the longest tertial showed two. But this was very difficult to ascertain. I had excellent light conditions and optics, but the color of the tips is uniform and they blended together.  

By the time I left around 6 pm the bird was not quite a tenth of a mile west of mile marker 5, north side of the causeway, where the rocky/weedy slope of the causeway meets the mudflat. The distance from the pavement was 90 feet according to the distance meter in Paul's lens. The bird likes to rest next to clumps of vegetation and several times was barely visible on the north side of a strip of ragweed. We would not have known it was there had we not seen it walk there. 

Prior to my arrival, Paul saw the bird farther out and it difficult to observe at that distance. Thank goodness it came in about as close as possible to have its picture taken. 

Thanks to all who reported and have participated in the discussion. I was much better prepared to observe the plover carefully due to your contributions. As you know from the analyses this past week, the ID challenges between the Pacific and American Golden-plovers is very difficult. Take with you a healthy dose of skepticism and identify the bird to your own satisfaction. All opinions welcome, including the ones different than mine :^D. 

Kris
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://secureserver.securesites.net/pipermail/birdnet/attachments/20060902/bd8f258b/attachment.htm