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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JANJ" data-source="post: 1585059" data-attributes="member: 20722">--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Some good suggestions provided by Martin. Just a quick wonder about the Mongolian suggestion, regarding the bill dimension.I was under the impression that the mongolus group (Mongolian Plover) is the shorter-billed compared to the atrifrons group (Lesser Sand Plover), which is longer-billed or slimmer-billed. Given the range of Mongolian one can perhaps expect records from western N. America being of this species. However, the bill of the Virginia sand plover has a bill lenght which in my opinion oversize a Mongolian and perhaps better fits one of the other ssp of Lesser Sand Plover, perhaps this race:<a href="http://shorebirds.exblog.jp/pg/blog....A05%3A00%2E000" target="_blank">http://shorebirds.exblog.jp/pg/blog....A05:00.000</a>I realise that in Mongolian/Lesser variation in bill size also can be indipendant of race/species, more on individual variation basis and perhaps according to age. Which brings me to the next question. Is the plover correctly aged?Peter Pyle suggest a 2cy bird with heavily worn wing coverts. Has this been confirmed?When Martin mention that all Greater has a the 'overlong looking bill' he of course referes to leschenaultii and crassirostris and excluding columbinus, which then would make this one a crassirostris (also on plumage features). Not the oversized bill of a Greater I would say. Note that the nail is longer than the basal part, even if the impression from this image might suggest equal length:<a href="http://www.pbase.com/slisch/image/99432546" target="_blank">http://www.pbase.com/slisch/image/99432546</a>I must say, the more I put myself into the learning process the more confused I get.Reading Erik's et al great paper is a real eye openar, since I´m a bit of a novice when it comes to sand plover identification. I fully understand the complexity ragarding these two/three species, and have seen only a handfull myself of Greater and Lesser.JanJ</blockquote>

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