ML44527731

Age and sex

Juvenile, Unknown sex - 1

Observation details

Hatch year. Photographed and submitted to the CBRC. Oscar's CBRC submission: Species: American Golden-Plover, Pluvialis dominica Location: Salinas Sewage Ponds, Monterey County Date: 12 October 2008 Age and sex: Hatch year Molt status: None apparent Number of individuals: One Other observers: Ryan Terrill Original observer: Myself Circumstances: Ryan Terrill and I were birding the Salinas Sewage Ponds that afternoon, and we came upon a flock of Black-bellied Plovers on the backside of the ponds. The birds were about 10-12 meters away on a levee in good light. I scanned through the flock of plovers and I came upon a Golden-Plover on right edge of the levee and mentioned to Ryan that he should look at this bird. He took a brief look and said it was a Golden-Plover, and I said “yes, its an American.” He agreed, and we watched the bird for about fifteen minutes, photographing it, and slowly getting closer to it. It flushed at one point and few about 20 meters to another levee, calling as it did so. We left it at this point and continued our way around the ponds. We re-found it later on another levee with (presumably) the same flock of Black-bellied Plovers. Description: An obvious Pluvialis Plover, in association with Black-bellied Plovers. Slightly smaller than the nearby Black-bellied Plovers, with a distinctly darker cap, slighter structure, dark ear-spot, darker forehead, shorter legs, and slightly brighter coloration. Its primary projection was much longer than the tail tip, and the tertials were slightly shorter than the tail tip. After a little bit of observation, we were able to count four primary tips past the longest tertial, with a fifth immediately short of the longest tertial. The legs were distinctly shorter than a Pacific Golden-Plover, and its bill somewhat shorter. Having seen a few Pacific Golden-Plovers within the last few days, this was fresh in my mind. Overall the bird was rather gray, with limited yellow highlights, mainly around the crown and nape. The bird had a distinct broad white supercilium, ending just behind the eye (about even with the ear spot). All of the back feathers, scapulars, tertials, and wing coverts were dark gray with large white spots around the edges. The throat was broadly and diffusely streaked gray, fading to spots on the chest and belly, and become unmarked on the lower belly and vent. I somehow failed to write down a description of the call in my notes, but for what its worth I recall it sounding good for an American the one time it called. Discussion: Obviously a Pluvialis Plover, and associating with a flock of Black-bellied Plovers. Not a Black-bellied for the reasons stated above. Pacific Golden-Plovers have longer legs and bill, and is overall brighter yellow above.

Technical information

Model

COOLPIX P5100

ISO

64

Focal length

7.5 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.4

Shutter speed

5/809 sec

Dimensions

2054 pixels x 1580 pixels

Original file size

556.76 KB