Mystery Bird: Black-bellied Plover, Pluvialis squatarola

OK where do we start here. Is it a seabird, wader (shorebird) or something else? Are there any Petrels or Shearwaters with a white base to the primaries? If not, can we eliminate this group? So is there a wader that fills the bill? I will leave it at that for now.

Just a bit of translation for any N. American novices out there -- Adrian's 'wader' would be what we call shorebirds.

Peregrine Falcon.

Black-bellied Plover

Adrian -- I need to work on actually reading the comments a bit more carefully. Sorry about that.

That's OK Paul, I do it myself all the time. Mike, care to elaborate a bit on your identification?

Adrian,

Perhaps these photos of a Black-bellied Plover in flight can help compare...

adult basic Black-bellied Plover in flight (dorsal wing surface), S. Padre Island, Texas, April 2004

adult alternate Black-bellied Plover in flight (dorsal wing surface), S. Padre Island, Texas, April 2004

I think the combination of white rump and white wing strip eliminates all of the other contending plovers (American Golden and Pacific Golden)

(oops, guess we're on the Atlantic coast so strike that Pacific Golden... although still eliminated for lack of a white rump, are there any accounts of a European Golden on the East coast?)

so if this is from Paul, is a "Happy Birthday" in order?

Hello Dvid, I was only trying to drag out the ID a bit. The only bird that fits is Grey Plover (Black-bellied on your side of the pond. White base to primaries, extending slightly onto secondaries, white supercilium, large dark eye, white rump and barred tail, dark grey "speckled" back.

Hey Adrian,

With Mike's comment I assumed you were in support and agreement so all bets were off!

But for John, I guess we could have referenced Tim Burton's "Beetlehead Rides a Gondola"

No, David, no happy birthday. None for some months, in fact.

its Beetlejuice, duh!

Yes David, I was thinking along the lines of it's raining beetles as well. I was looking for Beatle lyrics but couldn't find anything appropriate.

umm, blt... your "blt" seems to be one slice short of a sandwich...

"beetlehead" is in fact a common nickname for the Black-bellied Plover, duh!

while the specific epithet, squatarola, is from the Venetian dialect of Italy where they just happen to have gondolas, duh!

Hey Adrian, I guess the alternate title to "Norwegian Wood"?

Just checking Paul- Grrl has mentioned that she would allow us to offer our own photos on our birthdays!

I apologize in advance for the off-topic, but I saw something interesting today, and wanted to note it down for the "birdiest" people I know. A flock of about sixty migrating Canada geese flew by today, and near the front of the vee were three snow geese, all in a row but forming an orderly part of the line of Canada geese. Have any of you seen anything like that before?

very cool Vasha!

mixed flock of Canada and Snow geese

mixed flock of Red-breasted and White-fronted

I just wanted to say I LOVE Pea Island.

Heh. I was too busy to play today, but I see that lots of fun was had by all.

I just saw Alice in Wonderland yesterday with my son. I don't know what the critics are smoking. That film is _awesome_.

But then, I'm a big Tim Burton fan.

Paul, I now owe you an apology. I hadn't seen that you were the photographer! I think we both have to stay behind after school now.

"(oops, guess we're on the Atlantic coast so strike that Pacific Golden... although still eliminated for lack of a white rump, are there any accounts of a European Golden on the East coast?)"

There are 1 or 2 east coast USA records of European Goldean and not too many more of Pacific Golden.