ML618712861

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

rare, especially in the spring for both state and county. feel pretty good about identification and elimination of Pacific Golden-Plover. I'm unsure of age and plumage so I focused on structural features. fieldmarks in favor of AMGP compared to PGPL: - relatively small slim bill - primary projection beyond tail long - either equal or almost as long as bill length - bird didn't come out of the grass but leg length didn't seem notably long bird was hanging out on the close grassy area directly west of where I viewed from behind the fence, in the picnic area next to main building. bird didn't move very far but would disappear from view once in a while by going further into the ditch. bird didn't vocalize. === Notes below added 5/9 === I contacted Oscar W. Johnson, PhD of Montana State University (he coauthored this great paper about golden plover morphometric features) and he had this to say about this bird: "Looks to me like a longish primary projection consistent with American Golden-Plover. Also, overall coloration (though photos could be misleading) appears less colorful than Pacific GP, again consistent with AMGP. Very likely a female given the plumage as of the date (a male would be more colorful by 5/8), and this could be her full breeding plumage. There's lots of variation among females (both species), some almost male-like, others quite drab like your photos."

Technical information

Model

Pixel 4a

Lens

Pixel 4a back camera 4.38mm f/1.73

ISO

79

Focal length

4.4 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/1.7

Shutter speed

8351/1000000 sec

Dimensions

1498 pixels x 1497 pixels

Original file size

244.41 KB