[Birdnet] Pluvialis Plover in Salt Lake County

[Tim Avery]

This morning while conducting a survey on private property in northwest Salt
Lake County I encountered a Golden-Plover like none I had seen before.  The
bird was a juvenile, and was more "golden" colored than any I had previously
seen.  I posted a query to ID-Frontiers, hoping for some help to eliminate
Pacific Golden-Plover.  However, I was met with a very rude response, and have
chosen to no longer use the forum, which as of late has shown to be quite
useless, when serious help is needed.

I am posting these pictures here this evening, to see if any of our local
experts would like weigh in and possibly give their perspective of the bird.

http://timaverybirding.com/pluvialis.html

I spent about 3 hours watching this bird today, and trying to get some decent
shots, as well as see the primaries up close.  I brought two other observers
with me to look for the bird again and see if we could get anything else from
it.

Here are the key points about this bird:

    * The primaries only projected slightly beyond the tip of the tail, much
like a Black-bellied Plover (maybe 1/4 - 1/2" at most).
    * There was an obvious dark spot on the back of the auriculars.
    * The bird appeared lanky, almost clumsy looking when it walked.
    * When standing in a relaxed posture, the bird looked quite "plump".
    * In proportion to the body the head seemed quite large.
    * Most importantly in good lighting and in a picture I was able to capture,
the bird appeared to show 3 primaries projecting beyond the tertials.
    * And as mentioned the golden coloration.  The bird appeared to be quite
golden, especially on the head, neck, breast and belly.

In any event, I will be heading out in the morning to complete another survey
and check to see if the bird is still present.  If the bird is present I have
gotten permission to take anyone interested back to look for it.  However, I
had wanted to be sure of the ID, before taking a group out to see the bird, if
it was just a really gold American Golden-Plover.

I will post tomorrow afternoon with more details, if anyone is interested in
trying for the bird.

Cheers
Tim
Salt Lake City, UT
tanager at timaverybirding.com
http://www.timaverybirding.com
http://www.timavery.com