Posted by John Boyd on December 09, 2003 at 09:03:31:
In Reply to: Counter-point posted by Paul on December 08, 2003 at 19:00:26:
I don't understand what is supposed to be out-of-place for a winter BB Plover. The cap is not particularly pronounced (the extreme on BB is equal to American GP). The ear spot looks pretty normal for BB Plover. There don't appear to be ANY yellow/gold tones in the bird, which would be unusual (but not impossible) for any GP, and especially for any other than AGP (note that yellow/gold does not rule out BB). The breast pattern is much better for BB than any GP. So far as I can tell from the references I have at hand, both Pac. and Eur. GP's should show some yellow. Basically, it doesn't look like any Golden-plover.
The color of the dark areas looks pretty typical for BB Plover, which can be either gray or brown in winter. I gather that young BB's are browner than adults.
The overwhelming majority of Pluvialis plovers seen in Florida are Black-bellied. A few AGP's are sometimes seen (e.g. the birds Robin Diaz found on Crandon Beach). Neither PGP nor EGP have been recorded in Florida.