In response to the message I sent earlier today suggesting the possibility 
of using wing shape to distinguish the sex of the Frederick County Northern 
Lapwing (or Lapwings), Bob Moul of Adams County, PA was kind enough to send 
me the address of his website on which he has posted a number of photos of 
the Northern Lapwing, including several with the wings spread and showing 
their shape well.  He has also given me permission to send the address in 
question to MDOsprey so that others may see his 
photos:  http://www.pbase.com/rcml1840/northern_lapwing.       His photo 
gallery at www.PBase.com/rcml1840 displays the same pictures.  These photos 
show that the outermost primary is clearly shorter than the next primary 
(moving inward) and that the wing has broad bulging primaries.  If the 
drawings in "Shorebirds" (Hayman, Marchant, and Prater) can be used as a 
reliable authority, these features strongly suggest (or ? prove) the bird 
in Bob's photos was a male.  Because he took them on March 3 and the bird 
clearly has a white throat it is the one Ed Boyd called Lapwing B, the one 
photographed in flight by Mark Hoffman.  So, if someone can get a photo of 
the wings of the bird with the dark throat (Lapwing A of Ed Boyd) and it 
turns out to be a female, we will have strong evidence that two Lapwings 
are indeed present.

Harvey Mudd
____________________________________

S. Harvey Mudd
NIMH/DIRP/LMB
Building 35, Room 1B1006
35 Lincoln Dr.
BETHESDA MD 20892
tel: 301-496-0681;  fax 301-402-0245
email: