Dear all, this is to let nearby birders aware of the possibity of an American
Golden Plover at Shoalhaven Heads nr Nowra NSW.
This bird was seen late Saturday afternoon by myself, on the saltmarsh at the
southern edge of the main estruary at Shoalhaven Heads. Please accept apologies
for not reporting this earlier as I have been flat out with work commitments +
I was more unsure of the identification due to the plumage stage of the bird in
question until I had correstpondance with both Phil Straw and Mike Carter (who
is on his way there now) today, who consider this to be a good candidate for
AGP (I managed to get a couple of photos, which whilst poor, do highlight a key
diagnostic feature).
The key features identified were:
1) The white patches on the sides of the breast appeared much fuller than
comparable birds in similar stage of plumage. Flank line appeared much less
apparent and perhaps non-existant.
2) Leg length appeared similar to other GP's except that jizz perhaps was a
touch "bulkier"
3) Wing length, not exactly clear in the pictures, but extended beyond tail in
scope view
4) Bill perhaps seemed "heavier" but I think this was perhaps marginal
5) Underparts were not completely black towards the under-tail, although I
think this and other unclear features could be explained by plumage stage.
There is a good number of GP's at Shoalhaven Heads at the moment so hopefully
this bird is still around. I estimate that there are about 200 odd GP's there,
and the group I was looking at had a number of birds in various stages of
breeding plumage which made identification more challenging. However the extent
of white on the sides of the breast as well as the lack of flank line make this
bird interesting.
It might be worth taking a look if you are in the area. I do hope that Mike
and/or others can help confirm this possible sighting, it's about time we in
NSW turned something up - Victoria has had more than its fair share of good
waders this summer!
Cheers
Simon.
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