From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Sun Sep 21 21:21:58 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id h8M4JiIB013955 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 21 Sep 2003 21:19:44 -0700 (PDT) Received: from sccrmhc12.comcast.net (sccrmhc12.comcast.net [204.127.202.56]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id h8M4INZP013911 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 21 Sep 2003 21:18:24 -0700 (PDT) Received: from computer.comcast.net (12-234-255-153.client.attbi.com[12.234.255.153]) by comcast.net (sccrmhc12) with SMTP id <2003092204182101200fd5lae>; Mon, 22 Sep 2003 04:18:22 +0000 Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> X-Sender: [[email protected]] (Unverified) X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.2.1 Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2003 21:18:15 -0700 To: "Tom Grey" <[[email protected]]>, [[email protected]] From: Alvaro Jaramillo <[[email protected]]> Subject: Re: [SBB] Golden Plover In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Cc: X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.2+ Precedence: list List-Id: South Bay Birding List-Unsubscribe: , List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Errors-To: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] At 12:18 PM 9/21/2003 -0700, Tom Grey wrote: >This morning, the GOLDEN PLOVER in New Chicago Marsh was on the same island >near the track intersection reported yesterday by Kris Olson. Here are a >couple of digiscoped pictures. The primary tips go well beyond the tail in >2, cutting in favor of AMERICAN. On the other hand, there seemed to be >fringing of the scapular and mantle feathers that looked pretty close to >yellow, see esp 4, which may cast some doubt. > >http://www.geocities.com/tgrey41/GoldenPlover2.jpg >http://www.geocities.com/tgrey41/GoldenPlover4.jpg This is a challenging bird in my opinion. Is this the bird that is being identified as the American Golden Plover?? I think that this may actually be a Pacific Golden Plover. First of all, it is important to figure out its age, while there are some real fresh feathers and no worn (breeding) feathers I think this is an adult. First of all the primaries in the photos look brownish and thus worn, rather than fresh as expected on a juvenile. Juveniles will have all feathers fresh and of an even age, they will not show moult at this time of year. The scapulars have rather reduced golden markings, the coverts look all messed up (not lined up in neat rows) suggesting that they are moulting, and the neck lacks a speckled, streaky look - all of these features point to an adult rather than a juvenile. So if it is an adult, the extensive amount of golden on the upperparts pretty well eliminates American Golden Plover which is much more grey-brown above as a non-breeding (basic plumage) adult. I would also expect an adult American Golden to be less well advanced in terms of body moult, as that species has a generally later moult timing due to the long migration distance it undergoes, as compared to the Pacific which tends to have a much shorter migration distance. I am unsure what to think of the primary projection (primaries past tertials). Photo 4, seems to show a moderate primary projection rather than a long one. Photo 2 appears to show a long primary extension, but I wonder if this is partially an illusion. It is difficult to see if this is the case in the photo, but looking at the original, or a higher resolution scan may do the trick. In any case, I throw out the idea that this may be a Pacific Golden Plover out for discussion. cheers Al Alvaro Jaramillo Biologist San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory P.O. Box 247 Alviso, CA 95002 (408)-946-6548 http://www.sfbbo.org/ [[email protected]] ***** NOTE NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS**** _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. south-bay-birds mailing list ([[email protected]]) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://www.plaidworks.com/mailman/options/south-bay-birds/south-bay-birds-archive%40plaidworks.com This email sent to [[email protected]]