[MDOsprey] A Wilson's Plover
stamps@sea-east.com
Sat, 03 Jul 1999 22:30:10 -0400
I just received the new "North American Birds" issue incorporating
"Field Notes". This is Volume 53: No. 1, 1999. Those of you who get the
journal please turn to page 95. Tell me the photograph that is captioned
"This Wilson's Plover was at Bullard's Beach Orgon, October 1, a first
state record ..." is not the one that is supposed to go with the
caption. I have never seen a Wilson's Plover that looks like this. The
jizz is wrong, the bill is too thin, all Wilson's Plovers I have seen
have a complete breast band, and the pictured bird has no neck (hence
the wrong jizz). Granted a Wilson's Plover in Oregon is likely from the
race C. w. beldingi, which can have a more indistinct breast band than
our eastern race, but I don't think the band is ever completely broken
across such a wide distance? I've never seen a bird in the east that is
lacking a complete band to this extent.
And, what about the length of the neck? An extended neck is one of the
most distinctive features of a Wilson's Plover from a distance. If this
bird were sitting, I might expect a neckless appearance, but not when the
bird is standing and apparently alert.
What other species could the photographed bird be? How about some race of
the Kentish Plover (our Snowy Plover)?
Any other opinions?
Charles Vaughn
1306 Frederick Avenue
Salisbury, MD 21801
stamps@sea-east.com
410-742-7221