I noticed Chuck's report on the PGPL #3-A-03 and I have
some lousy photos to add to the record. They're at http://www.octoberweb.com/birds/pgpl/. I can
also add comments from Dave Irons that were solicited by Harry Krueger a couple
years ago. I'll paste that in below.
To Chuck's report I can add what
I remember. The bill immediately struck me as large for an American Golden
Plover (but no AGPLs were present for comparison so I was going on memory from
previous fall). Also I clearly recall that the longest tertial was laying right
on top of P8, or what I assumed was P8. At any rate there were only 2 primary
tips visible beyond the tertials. This was viewed from about 40 or 50 yards
with 60X scope (I'm not really sure how close we were but I could clearly see
the primary tips so I'm sure my count is accurate). Lastly the undertail
coverts were clean white with no trace of black visible.
From the
photos the bird also looks long legged and large headed, and the head also
appears somewhat square, all of which support Pacific Golden Plover. Also the
primary extension beyond the tertials is visible and quite short, but you can't
see it well enough to count the number of primaries. The tertials appear to
extend quite close to the end of the tail.
In addition I would suggest
that this individual was not molting. I do not recall seeing any newly replaced
feathers on the upperparts. I feel it was most likely a sub-adult or first
summer bird that never molted completely into alternate plumage.
In
summary the combination of short primary extension beyond the tertials with
only 2 tips visible (this alone is diagnostic for Pacific as all Americans
apparently show at least three primary tips beyond tertials), tertials close to
end of tail (American is typically less than 2/3 of the way to end of tail),
clean white undertail coverts (visible in the photos), and large blocky head
would never be shown by American Golden Plover.
Some of the
information presented here is from:
Johnson, O.W. & Johnson, P.M. 2004.
Morphometric features of Pacific and American Golden-Plovers with comments on
field identification. Wader Study Group Bull. 103: 42–49.
___________________________________________
text of email to Harry Krueger from Dave Irons:
Harry,
Before offering meaningful comments on
this bird I would first want to know the date of the sighting. Given the degree
of mottling on the underparts I would be hard pressed to sex this bird. In my
experience transitional plumages in "Golden" Plovers are almost infinitely
variable. I do believe that the structure of this bird suggests Pacific. The
extension of the wingtips appears short and it also has fairly long-legged
look. The face pattern and the amount of white under the tail are a pretty good
match with Sibley’s illustration of a female Pacific. However I return to
the notion that the mottling of the underparts is too great for a bird in
definitive alternate plumage. After the exchange with Dave Lauten (whose
opinion I value) and Marcia Cutler (a relatively inexperienced birder), I
exchanged emails with Steve Mlodinow on this topic. He concurred with Dave
Lauten and I stating that in his opinion sexing southbound birds away from the
breeding grounds gets increasingly dicey with each passing day. I lived in
Central Illinois for four years in the mid-90’s and during this time I saw
literally thousands of migrant American Golden Plovers each Spring and Fall.
The peak northbound passage occurred from about April 1-May 15. Even at the
latest dates these birds seemed to still be acquiring definitive alternate
plumages. The individual variability was incredible. Southbound adults were
almost always in transitional plumages with noticeable mottling on the
underparts and light areas emerging on the lower face. Again, individual
variation among these birds was great. I can’t say I have ever sexed a
Golden Plover of any species. Steve stated that he has seen about 4-5 birds on
the Pacific Coast (all during the month of June) that he confidently sexed.
Here in Oregon, I see very few Golden Plovers from year to year and the vast
majority of those have been juvenal or basic plumaged birds.
I hope
these comments are of use in your deliberations on this bird.
Good
birding,
Dave Irons
I've sent him the "date" of the record. Let's see if we get more."
-- Cliff and Lisa Weisse Island Park, Idaho cliffandlisa@octobersetters.com