Oldnintheway
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Which Golden Plover? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Oldnintheway
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Oldnintheway
Well-known member
Thanks fugl.There were 3 or 4 others with similar structure but only slightly golden colored. This one stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb. The photo unaltered except for cropping.
SteveClifton
Well-known member
Could it just be a brightly coloured juv AGP?
As a British birder I would typically expect a vagrant AGP to be very grey, and PGP to be more 'golden', but considerable variation exists in the European Golden Plover population (which I'm more familiar with). Some birds are very pale and 'washed out' as was one of the birds I was watching just yesterday, and a few very grey individuals exist too-almost lacking any warm hues. So surely there is also variation in the populations of AGP and PGP?
This is a bright juvenile AGP, but perhaps brighter individuals might also be possible? https://www.flickr.com/photos/gahaganphoto/29570012750/
It's not easy to judge the length of the primaries and tertials from this angle, but the latter do appear to fall short of the tail tip (best judged in pic #1), which would favour AGP.
As a British birder I would typically expect a vagrant AGP to be very grey, and PGP to be more 'golden', but considerable variation exists in the European Golden Plover population (which I'm more familiar with). Some birds are very pale and 'washed out' as was one of the birds I was watching just yesterday, and a few very grey individuals exist too-almost lacking any warm hues. So surely there is also variation in the populations of AGP and PGP?
This is a bright juvenile AGP, but perhaps brighter individuals might also be possible? https://www.flickr.com/photos/gahaganphoto/29570012750/
It's not easy to judge the length of the primaries and tertials from this angle, but the latter do appear to fall short of the tail tip (best judged in pic #1), which would favour AGP.
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Oldnintheway
Well-known member
Thanks for the replies! There were 800-1000 BBPlovers, 2 Marbled Godwits, 1 Willet and 4 or 5 what looked like golden plovers by size, shape and color, though they varied from barley goldish to this one. The flock was constantly shifting and was flushed several times by beach walkers to return in a different configuration. So it's pretty tough to keep track of a single bird. I initially though this(pics 1&2) was the same bird that I originally posted,but in reviewing pics I'm thinking it was different. The third pic is of one of the lesser colored birds.
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SteveClifton
Well-known member
I agree, it does look to be a Pacific on those two images, was just asking about the range of variation in AGP, as most juveniles occurring in Europe aren't anywhere near as bright, so how do you explain the bright gold tones in the photo I linked to above? How often do individuals like this occur in the general population?
Pacifics must be quite rare in eastern North America? hence why I thought it wise to eliminate all possibility of American GP.
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The first two are definitely Pacific Golden-Plover juveniles. Hard to tell if they are the same or different individuals. But Bird #3 is different with a nice dark cap contrasting with pale nape and little gold spangling above and none below. It also seems to show long primary projection with the extension beyond the tertials about the same as the tertials themselves. To me, this looks good for American Golden-Plover. Both species migrate through the West Coast and I have seen both together at times in California in the Fall.
