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By Owlet
#87919
Yesterday (April 26) Kevin Louth reported a Pacific Golden-Plover in a field near 112th Street in Delta with a flock of Black-Bellied Plovers and Whimbrel.

After school today we checked it out and after trying hard we found a giant flock of around 80 Black-Bellied Plovers, along with one Whimbrel. Because of the Whimbrel, I suspected it was the right flock. They were far away and since my better camera was in repair we had to suffice with a short lens making ID pretty hard. But luckily a Merlin scared the flock and the whole flock flew over the road more than once, allowing me to get photos of the flock.

I thought that we didn't get it but after researching online I heard that Black-Bellied Plovers (the common one here) had distinct black armpits while flying formed by the black auxiliaries. We found every single bird in the flock had black armpits, even juvenile and female BBPL. But Then, I found one without!

The more I looked at the bird, the more differences popped up. It was (although pretty hard to notice) smaller than the BBPL's, and had a thinner beak and more sleek body. But most of all, no black armpits. So what do you guys think? Photo below.

ImagePGPL? by Adam Dhalla, on Flickr

P.S Wondering how the SmugMug/Flickr thing is gonna turn out....
By zwest
#87920
My understanding is that the black pits are always there for BBPL regardless of age or season. So this looks like one of the Golden-plovers - which I really struggle to differentiate. I think PGPL looks like a good fit though, as the white continues from its neck under the wings.

[Edit] FWIW the Merlin app agrees with us...

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