Following on from the recent discussion about a Pacific/European Golden Plover in Oman (
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=293030) I thought I would revisit this thread to see whether anyone had any insight into this bird in Hong Kong.
I had great views of this bird (down to about 20m) but didn't have a camera, and unfortunately the bird was a bit distant when the photos by John Holmes were taken. There were over 200 PGP present at the time for direct comparison.
Key features observed at closer range include:
- Moderately large size, closer to Grey Plover than PGP
- Broad neck (bull-necked)
- Bill not as heavy as PGP
- Fairly short primary projection but longer than PGP (3-4 primary tips visible)
- Porly marked head pattern, lacking prominent supercilium in profile but in rear view with broad supercilium seeming to widen towards the rear. No obvious dark ear-covert spot
- Upperpart feathers with small yellow notches of uniform width and several notches visible on each feather. Entirely lacking feathers with uniform golden edges or with deeper golden notches as seen on PGP. (I have looked at many PGP in the same flock and since the observation - most have some uniform golden fringes, and all seem to have deep notches on most of the upperparts).
Unfortunately the bird did not call and the axiliaries were not clearly seen when the bird took off.
It has been a few years though since I have seen any European GPs, so I was wondering whether there was anyone out there with experience of separating these two species that may be able to add any insight into the identification of the Hong Kong bird. In particular, does anyone know much about the significance of the upperpart pattern. It's mentioned in some books (e.g. Duivendijk) but most sources don't seem to mention this feature. Thanks.
