ML617069722

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Behaviors

Flying

Media notes

Continuing Piping Plover in basic plumage, initially found on 20 March 2024 by Benjamin Pearl, here photographed in flight by Curtis A. Marantz on 2 April 2024 at the Ravenswood salt ponds on the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge, Menlo Park, San Mateo County, California.

Observation details

On this particular morning, Wright spotted the plover after a relatively brief search following the arrival of large numbers of birds after they had been flushed by a Northern Harrier. We then observed the plover for a short time (7:30-7:39 am) from a distance of 150 meters before the birds flew again, and subsequently in the same general area (7:49-7:50 am), but a bit farther away, at maybe 200 meters before they flew yet again. After this second flight, the plover went missing for over an hour before others found it foraging along a narrow bar of mud on the far side of the pond, now about 250 meters from us, but in good light with the morning sun at our backs. We then spent an extended period of time studying the plover (9:19-10:42 am), both as it foraged along this narrow bar, and when it chased the other birds away, which it did repeatedly. Although the plover was generally unobstructed, except when it walked behind other birds, and the light was good, the distance was sufficiently great that my views were insufficient to discern the finer details of the plumage or structure. Not surprisingly, given both the distance and the large number of other birds present, I never heard this bird vocalize. The plover was seen loafing and preening when we saw it early in our visit, but it was foraging actively when seen later, and as is typical of a small Charadrius, this bird foraged on dry ground by running short distances and either looking around or picking at the surface. I never saw it probing and I cannot recall ever seeing it stand in the shallow water. Given its aggressive nature, this bird regularly chased the other birds both by running and in flight, which allowed me to repeatedly see the pattern on the spread wings and tail, though admittedly always from a rather long distance. This bird was clearly a small, “ringed” plover with the structure and patterns both quite similar to those of the many Semipalmated Plovers that were present at this site; however, its overall coloration was conspicuously pale and the structure was subtly different. My impression was that this bird was a bit plumper than the Semipalmated Plovers when seen in direct comparison, and at times, it seemed that the body may have been very slightly larger than at least some of the other birds. The bill was short and rather stout, tapering from a base of medium depth to a blunt tip along a culmen that appeared to be straight, at least when seen from a distance. I further though the bill would have extended backward on the face only to a point near the eye, but I failed to note the length relative to the depth at the base. The forehead was relatively steep and the crown was smoothly rounded, both on a head that appeared at least as large, if not subtly larger, in proportion to the body than those of the Semipalmated Plovers. I weas nevertheless confident that the neck was stockier than those of the other birds, which resulted in this bird appearing to lack an obvious neck, with the head instead appearing to meet the body directly. The body was notably plump, and given the stocky neck, my impression was that this bird had a pot-bellied appearance and maybe giving not such a full-chested impression, but overall, this bird’s body was not unlike those of the other plovers. My impression was that the wings were relatively long, with the tapered wingtips seemingly reaching the tip of the tail, but I was wholly unable to see the primary projection, or really even the tail clearly when the bird was on the ground. My impression was that the tail was about as long as the body without the head and neck, but it was difficult to be sure. When the bird took flight, I was able to see that the wings were relatively long and tapering to pointed tips, and that the tail was short and seemingly with rounded corners. The legs were relatively short and stouter than those of a small sandpiper, but I was unable to see the finer details of structure that may have helped separate this bird from the Semipalmated Plovers. At least when seen from a distance, the plover looked much like an overly pale Semipalmated Plover, with generally similar patterns but a much paler overall coloration. There was a white supercilium that connected narrowly across the immediate forehead, from which it extended back through the supraloral region, over the eye, and back along the upper edge of the auriculars before tapering to a point before reaching their rear terminus. Beginning on the forecrown just behind the white on the forehead was a sandy-brown cap that covered the crown back to the nape and down to the supercilium. I did not see any internal markings in the cap, but the bird was sufficiently far away that it would have been difficult to have seen subtle markings. Below the supercilium was a similarly colored mask that covered the auriculars from the eye back to their rear terminus, but also extending forward below the eye. I was able to see a crescent of white below the eye, but from the distance at which I made my observations, the lores appeared rather pale. Below the mask, the throat was white and unmarked from the chin down to the breast, and up through the lower part of the face across the malar and submoustachial regions. The center of the breast, and the belly, flanks, and undertail coverts were white and unmarked; however, there was a partial collar that represented a rather broad band extending from the sides of the breast about halfway out to the center, where it ended sharply and broadly, with the terminus seemingly square without tapering or even rounded corners. I thought the breast bands were about the same shade as the upperparts, or maybe very subtly darker, but they were not at all blackish, nor did the band extend across the center of the breast as it did on the Semipalmated Plovers. I cannot recall noting in the field if the cap was separated from the back by a white collar, but I was confident that the back and most of the closed wings, including all of the visible coverts, were about the same sandy-brown as the cap, and thus two or three shades paler than those of the Semipalmated Plovers. I thought the upperparts and wings may have had a subtly uneven appearance, but they lacked obvious markings. My impression was that the tertials were subtly darker than the coverts as seen on the closed wing, but the difference in shade was inconspicuous. More obvious was that the larger tertials had narrow edges of whitish that were relatively well-defined and creating a striped pattern along the lower edge of the distal part of the wing. I thought the wingtips were darker, but I was unable to make out the pattern clearly. Conspicuous when this bird took flight was a broad band of white that extended out the middle part of the wing, seemingly almost to the tip. This stripe was framed on the outer part of the wing by dark and seemingly sooty on the trailing edges of the primaries and what I thought were the primary coverts, all of which contrasted with the sandy-brown on the upperside of the forewing basally. I saw the tail only when the bird was in flight, when I noted that the whitish that characterized the uppertail coverts and the base of the tail contrasted with a broad band or oval of blackish on the distal part of the tail. I further thought the outer edges and tip of the tail were narrowly pale. The overall appearance of both the wings and tail were quite different from the Semipalmated Plovers, which lacked an obvious stripe on the primaries and also the sharp contrast between the mostly dark tail and the paler base. At least when seen from a distance, both the bill and eyes appeared to be black, and the eyes also appeared to be quite large and standing out conspicuously against a conspicuously pale face. The legs and what I could see of the feet appeared to be a chrome-yellow that was not overly bright, but also with what I thought to be subtle, brownish tones.

Technical information

Model

ILCE-7RM5

Lens

FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS

ISO

500

Focal length

600 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/5000 sec

Dimensions

727 pixels x 473 pixels

Original file size

555.79 KB