Well done, Julian - 3 out of 3!
The DB Plover is interesting - juveniles have a white collar like that so maybe
this is a teenager coming into its first breeding season. They are a really
tricky plover - I recall a couple of years ago Harvey Perkins and I finding a
rather plain plover at Lake Wollumboola. After studying 4 different field
guides we had with us, we thought the closest match was a non-breeding Oriental
Plover, but we were very sceptical given that there are only 2 records for
southern NSW. Harvey took lots of photos and it wasn't until he consulted
HANZAB back in Canberra that we were happy that it was in fact a DB Plover,
despite having no bands and no white throat. So they do vary a lot and not all
plumage variations appear in standard field guides.
Waders are such fun!
Sue
For what it is worth, I agree with Mark. I can't offer any opinion as to why
the Double-banded Plover has a white collar. How many of them do? Is this
relevant to the birds that Elizabeth Compston reported on? As for the variation
in colouring of the Caspian Tern. I'd suggest it could be related to a
difference in the angle of viewing and the direction of the light of the 2
birds, rather than any camera effect or difference between the birds. (Wings of
bird on left are in shade.)
Philip
From: Mark Clayton <> To: 'Julian Robinson'
<> ;
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2007 4:05 PM Subject: RE: [canberrabirds]
Coastal birds
Hi Julian,
A quick reply, A = Double-banded Plover coming in to breeding plumage
before heading off to NZ where they breed, B= Red-capped Plover, possibly
female as you suggest, and C= Caspian Tern possibly coming in to breeding
plumage. Yes, they are a big tern and that beak can give a painful bite (from
experience).
Cheers,
Mark
________________________________
From: Julian Robinson
Sent: Monday, 27 August 2007 2:52 PM To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Coastal birds
I found coastal birds very hard going on the w/end, my first real
attempt to identify beach type birds. Yesterday I walked from our campsite at
Termeil north along the beach to Tabourie. There weren't many sea birds apart
from an impressively large Sea-eagle, but I did see a Fan-tail Cuckoo perched
on top of the small sandhills, on low shrubby veg right on the beach. This
surprised me since I thought they were tree-birds and not a beach-type bird.
But I had troubles with these plovers... there were 4 of them together,
only on getting home did I realise they were two different species(!), and my
guides have me foxed although I realise that migration and breeding variations
in plumage make sea birds a bit of a challenge.
Bird A below seems to be a Double-banded Plover in intermediate
plumage, but then I see that the guides point out as diagnostic that the Ringed
Plovers are the only ones with the white collar going right round and over the
back, as this one does. This one also doesn't have yellow legs so pretty sure
it is not a RP, but it still has a clear all-round collar which contradicts the
diagnostic point.
Any thoughts?
Bird B below I'm guessing a female or non-breeding Red-capped Plover
but don't know which.
BBBBB
Bird C (Tabourie) seems like a Caspian Tern but again they were beside
Silver Gulls and almost the same size which confused me a bit, and the
variation in colouring shown is not reflected in any of my 5 guides. One was
almost white and the other dark grey, not a trompe-de-camera (to borrow Roger's
phrase) but actually there...
I would be interested in any comment on the variability of sea and
beach birds and my confusions.
((These image totalled 75KB but will be increased by email formatting,
I can't measure final size but it should be less than the current 100K limit.))
Julian
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