[Birdtalk] Plover comments from ID Frontiers

[Tim Avery]

Kevin Karlson (one of the authors of the new shorebird guide)posted a little
about the PGPL being seen at the causeway, and I think it may be of interest to
everyone.  Both his emails are pasted below:

I have enjoyed all the discussion related to plumage of the Utah Pacific
Golden Plover that was shared by a number of shorebird experts, but
nobody other than Lee Evans referred to the very obvious structural
differences between Pacific Golden and American Golden Plover. Without
even looking at plumage, it took about two seconds of seeing the first
photo to realize that this was not an American Golden Plover. If anyone
spends some time studying the shape and structure of these two species,
a good number of questionable individual birds may be identified without
ever looking at feathers.For Pacific Golden Plover (compared to American
Golden), the combination of a blocky head, large bill and chunky,
rounded body gives this species a profile similar to Black-bellied
Plover rather than AGPL. American Golden has a pigeon-like head in
shape, with a smaller, thinner bill. This smaller head and thinner bill
often looks proportionally small in relation to its body than that of
PGPL. The shorter rear quarters and primaries of PGPL further adds to a
more rounded, shorter body profile than that of AGPL. In some
individuals, such as this one, the very long legs, especially the tibia,
creates a lanky appearance to the structure of the bird, which is not
seen in AGPL. The combination of all these factors often seals the ID of
a questionable bird within seconds. Of course, feather analysis will
further solidify the ID, and allow for aging of most birds.

Sorry for this second posting, but I forgot to whole-heartedly agree
with Killian that the other bird in question from Utah birds
photographed a week earlier is the same individual as the bird shown in
this post. You don't need a close-up photo to see the same obvious
structural characters of PGPL, especially the very long legs, of the
earlier bird. Sometimes a more distant photo allows for better analysis
of a birds overall structure anyway. Another interesting point is that
the observer stated that "Attached is not a very good photo, but I'm
trying to make it an American Golden instead of a Black-bellied
juvenile." In my previous post, I mentioned that the structure of PGPL
is often more similar to BBPL than AGPL, which caused Keith Evans to
struggle with the ID. When you see a problematic Pluvialis plover, see
if it resembles BBPL in overall shape, with a blocky head and bulky,
rounded, somewhat shorter body shape, with noticeably long legs. If it
does, give it more scrutiny.

Kevin Karlson
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I can say I am definately jealous I am not in Utah to get a look at this bird in
person.  Great find and fantastic photos, thanks to everyone who took the time
to study this great 1st state record!

Good Birding

Tim
Indianapolis, IN and Salt Lake City, UT
http://www.timaverybirding.com
http://www.birdtography.com