BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="lostinjapan" data-source="post: 1586619" data-attributes="member: 40391">Although Jan included shots from Japan, where indeed the expected species/subspecies would be Mongolian Plover, the pictures are on the site because there are always a few birds including my own bird from May 2006 which have appreciably longer bills which are not typical in Mongolian Plover seen in Japan are more typical of the Lesser Sand Plover group further to the west...so begging the question do Lesser Sand Plover occur in Japan i.e. further east as a regular vagrant or do some Mongolian simply have longer bills.I am also confused now as to whether if this American bird is a Mongolian Plover as has latterly been claimed by some..how could it as the two races in that group don't usually show longer bills...surely it would be more likely to be a Lesser Sand Plover. I am also confused by Martin's comments about the overall structure of Mongolian Plover, describing them as rangier than Lesser.  During the years I spent in Japan and on trips to Australia, I would say such a description was not true of the Mongolians that I saw.  My memories of birds in Saudi Arabia are a little hazy but if anything I always felt they were a little longer-legged than Mongolian, but it is only an impression.Moreover, I don't want to take issue with your assessment of your own pics Pete, as you have much greater knowledge than me, but in the 2nd image I see Lesser Sand Plover and not Mongolian as you state as I do believe that Mongolian do indeed have shorter bills on the whole than Lesser Sand Plover and structurally the bird just looks too bulky and hunched for Mongolian Plover from my experience.Anyway thats my confused two-penneth...feel free to ignore me and go with the experts on this one.Sean</blockquote>

Verification