Pluvialis sp.?

[Colin Key]

*Decided to move this from the European Birds section where it appears to have "died".

Attached is a photograph of a pluvialis taken on 12th November 2007 at the Ria de Alvor, Algarve, Southern Portugal. It is not a good shot but I cannot get closer then about 100 metres to the bird. This bird arrived here (or at least I first noticed it here) in June 2002 and has not moved away since then! It does occasionally go onto the estuary at low tide to feed but is mainly confined to an area of marshland approximately 400 square meters in size. It seems to prefer to be in shallow water rather than on dry land. Its moult from winter to summer plumage is very subtle and mainly consists of developing an overall more yellow plumage together with a very distinct white supercillium (I will try to dig out an even poorer digiscoped shot of it in summer plumage). It has never developed any dark head or belly plumage, so I assume that it is a female.

The bird is a "loner" even though we now have a large flock (ca 400) of European Golden Plover in close vicinity, all of which are very vocal when in flight or even at roost. This bird appears to be a "mute".

I have a bit more information which I will disclose in due course, but for now just wanted to see what others who are familiar with all three pluvialis species think about this bird.

Colin


http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/Passarinhos/0C0J3703a.jpg

[Brian S]

Colin

In my opinion this a Eurasian Golden Plover - just going on the features visible here. Structurally, I can't see it being an American (not long enough in the wing) or a Pacific (not long legged or large billed enough). As far as the plumage is concerned, I feel that the size of the notching on the edges of the scaps and coverts is not large enough. Though on both American and Pacific there is some variability in winter (from almost no notches to large), this bird matches Eurasian to my mind.

http://www.tarsiger.com/gallery/index.php?sp=find&lang=eng&order=nro,paiva%20DESC&species=14230

Brian

[Red-eyed Video]

It is not a good shot but I cannot get closer then about 100 metres to the bird.



Firstly I would say that this is an excellent shot at that range and shows all the features which should lead to a positive I.D. as a....well to me it looks like a PGP based on the slight appearance, long legs and 'golden' plumage. There are a number of tertials missing which gives it the impression of having long primaries as an AMG would have although the plumage would be greyer on this species. Having said that it could still prove to be a small GP in warm weather (November?), I would like to see the axillaries before committing myself.

[Colin Key]

Thanks for your replies so far. I am now attaching four poor quality digiscoped shots taken in (I think) late Spring/early Summer 2003 of the same bird. These were posted to a lot of knowledgeable birders at the time and elicited a variety of answers. One of these shots was also printed off and used in a "mystery bird" competition at WMBC AGM; my mate, and at the time Chairman, Jim Winsper said that no-one would commit themselves to a positive ID.

Colin

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/Passarinhos/AGP04.jpg

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/Passarinhos/AGP03.jpg

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/Passarinhos/AGP02.jpg

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/Passarinhos/AGP01.jpg

[macrourus]

The bird surely looks odd and interesting but I guess being resident and alone there since some years it is a sick bird where moult etc. is not reliable

Based on strcutre, I TOTALLY agree with Brian that this is indeed a EGolden Plover as it apparently from the photos has nothing to do in structure with fulva (even less with American GP) legs being too thick and short chiefly the tibia, and bill too thick and short too with tip (the bulbous part) very small and narrow and short....

But I wonder, being there since so long time, nodoby menaged to see the underwing colour??

i mean this should be pretty easy in any bird, as it is the call in flyght ....

With such close photos, when it fly the underwing should be readely visible, being fully greish in Pacific and American as opposite to bright white, this is DEFINITIVE character to solve any doubt

Ciao

Andrea Corso
________
Live Sex (http://livesexwebshows.com/)

[forktail]

With such close photos, when it fly the underwing should be readely visible, being fully greish in Pacific and American as opposite to bright white, this is DEFINITIVE character to solve any doubt

Ciao

Andrea Corso

NB, I can only access the first pic at the moment - the second set aren't working for me...

Anyway, Andrea some good points: it is slightly odd that the axillaries (or call) haven't been seen in all that time!

the bill, especially, for me lacks the shape of a PGP - it ought to be of more even width, tapering less? and as Brian mentioned maybe some of the scalloping/'notching' on some feather edges is not really what you'd expect either.

It doesn't have that 'skinny-leggy' look either. It's hard to say anything useful regarding the tertials/tail/primary area as I'm not sure what's going there from the picture

Hopefully I'll be able to see the other pics at home later...

F.

[Colin Key]

Anyway, Andrea some good points: it is slightly odd that the axillaries (or call) haven't been seen in all that time!


F.

Thanks Andrea and Forktail (not sure why you can't see the second batch of photos F.). I did say in my origianl post that I had a bit more information, but I wanted to see what people's opinions were first. In four and a half years the bird has still not been positively heard calling. It was just over two months after the bird arrived before I saw the axillaries and, disappointingly, they are as white as the driven snow (the bird, whilst feeding, lifted both wings to steady itself - it has still not been seen flying).

So, everyone (and it has attracted a lot of local attention since we have had positive IDs of both American and Pacific hereabouts) said P. apricaria. But, apart from its odd behaviour, it is a strange bird and seeing it now with large numbers of European Golden Plover for comparison it is difficult to accept that it is exactly the same species. Before seeing the pale underwing, the very pronounced supercilium (more so than these photos convey) which gave the bird a distinct "capped" appearance, the apparent projection of primary tips beyond the tail in some postures, suggested a possible P. dominica.

I personally don't think that this is a pure European Golden Plover, neither do I think that the bird is in any way sick (I have seen it almost every day for four and half days), so what is the possibility that this could be a pluvialis hybrid?

Colin :wideeyed:

[Brian S]

Colin

I have to be brutally honest here and say I simply cannot see any AGP or PGP influence on this bird. None of the structural or morphological elements are at odds with Eurasian, so no need to muddy the waters with a possible hybrid theory.

There was a plover at Chew Valley lake a good few years ago, which Keith Vinnicombe found. This was mooted as a hybrid (I believe that there was some duskiness on the underwings), but yours just looks like Eurasian Golden Plover to me.

Brian S

[Colin Key]

I accept what you say Brian, and at the end of the day have to agree, but I think that if you saw the bird "in the flesh" you would find it a little odd, to say the least. After all this time I am prepared to just write it off as one of nature's peculiarities; they do exist, and we have had a Bar-tailed Godwit in beautiful brick-red breeding plumage all winter, as well as a Black-headed gull with a complete black (dark brown) head all year.

C'est la vie!

Colin