Lesser Sand-Plover (Tibetan)? Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo (1 Viewer)

[dixonlau]

Its bill looks short. The white neck collar doesn't goes all the way to behind. My current analyse is Lesser Sand-Plover.

Taken last December 2020, Sarawak beach, Malaysia.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Vyomkesh]

Lesser to me, beak doesn't look thick enough for greater

 

[kahraba]

Agreed. Thin beak and rather small head (big eye in proportion).

 

[dixonlau]

Thank you @Vyomkesh @kahraba

 

[andyb39]

The bill is a little long and pointed for Lesser and it looks rather long-legged.

 

[johnallcock]

The bill is a little long and pointed for Lesser and it looks rather long-legged.

This depends upon which taxon of Lesser SP you are familiar with. To me, this bird looks typical of schaeferi (which is the easternmost taxon of Tibetan and probably the most likely taxon on Borneo). The plumage (head and breast pattern) also fits 'Tibetan' rather than 'Mongolian' or Greater.

 

[andyb39]

I'm familiar with atrifrons, which has a short stubby bill. The way the bill comes to a point reminds me of the race of Greater (columbinus?) I encounter in the Gulf. The funny thing is, when I look at the images as thumbnails on my phone, they immediately look like Lesser again - cute appearance, rounded head, front-heavy stance. I must have been deceived by zooming in too much and also by the way the bird is stretching its leg out in the 2nd image.

 

[johnallcock]

This geographical variation is one of the big challenges with sand plover ID I think. When I see pictures of atrifrons I'm always surprised at how small and delicate they are, especially the small bill. Much of the literature on LSP is written by people with experience of atrifrons (in Middle East) or mongolus (in Australia), but schaeferi can look much more like Greater than either of these. Similarly, I find columbinus Greater to be confusing because they are so unlike nominate leschenaultii.

Andy's comments on the leg position are interesting. I find the positions here (both stretching the leg in front as in pic 2 and with the trailing leg 'hanging' as in pic 3) to be typical of schaeferi because of different feeding behaviour compared to mongolus or Greater.

The more I look, the more I think pic 3 is a perfect illustration of winter-plumage schaeferi - structure, plumage, leg colour, posture all visible. It's a great picture, Dixon.