Dawnleaf

Please help ID !
Is this a Kentish's Plover or Swinhoe's Plover ?
Place: Ha Pak Lai
Date: 22/10/2015

Jonathmartinez

this is a good looking one for Swinhoe's Plover, especially based on bill shape

Jonathmartinez

interestingly it is a different bird than the one posted earlier...

Dawnleaf

Thanks Jonathmartinez!

May I ask what is the gender and age of this plover?

Dawnleaf

According to "Rediscovery of a long-lost Charadrius plover from South-East Asia" by Peter R. Kennerley, David N. Bakewell and Philip D. Round:

"Presumed first-winter male non-breeding plumage (October to late December). Plate 4
Resembles the adult male breeding plumage but the head pattern is subdued, with the supercilium behind the eye lightly washed diffuse grey, and light grey around and below the lower edge of the eye, forming a dark ‘shadow’. In front of the eye, this appears as a small grey spot, but otherwise the lores remain white. The forehead is white, but the dark fore-crown bar is largely obscured with whitish tips, and appears pale grey. The crown is pale sandybrown like the mantle, but the sides to the crown and hind-crown are dull orange-brown. The dark patches on the sides of the breast appear slightly greyer and paler than those of the breeding male."

So is this bird a first winter male?

Jonathmartinez

it is clearly a first winter. Regarding its sex, I think it is too early to tell as this bird definitly haven't started moulting into breeding plumage, and I'm not sure that their sex can be told in their first winter plumage...
Other difficulties with 1st Winter birds is that depending on when they are born (first or second clucth) they can show a lot of variability from an individual to another due to their age and this is also explaining why the period they start moulted into breeding plumage vary  a lot as well...

Dawnleaf

Thanks a lot Jonathmartinez!

ajohn

From interest Jonathan, how are you confidently stating that this bird is 'clearly a first winter'?
Most waders in first winter plumage are very similar to adult winter in body plumage, and are not easily separable on body plumage. Is there a feature that allows these to be separated at this age?

I'm also interseted by the leg colour. I would say that the leg colour on this bird is fairly dark, darker than on the other picture posted recently. Leg colour has previously been given as a key feature for separating Kentish and Swinhoe's. From your experience, how reliable is this feature?

irsychan

Quote:

Original posted by ajohn at 24/10/2015 07:53
From interest Jonathan, how are you confidently stating that this bird is 'clearly a first winter'?
Most waders in first winter plumage are very similar to adult winter in body plumage, and are not ea ...

I agree with ajohn.  There is literature saying that white-faced plover should show pinkish legs under strong sunlight.

Dawnleaf

Thanks for the comment from A John and SY Chan.

In the article "Rediscovery of a long-lost Charadrius plover from South-East Asia" by Peter R. Kennerley, David N. Bakewell and Philip D. Round, the legs of Swinhoe's Plover are described as follows:

"Bare parts
Legs: variable in colour. Adult males vary from dull midgrey with a slight pinkish tinge to pale flesh, the legs appearing darker on freshly moulted males in February and March. The legs of adult females are distinctly paler than those of most males, with grey tones almost or entirely absent, and replaced with dull pink or flesh tone, sometimes with a hint of ochre. Importantly, however, the legs are invariably and conspicuously paler than the bill. Only the most extreme Kentish Plover will occasionally show leg colour approaching that of dealbatus, and no dealbatus has been noted with legs approaching the dark grey of Kentish Plover. "

Hope this helps.

The original paper can be found in http://www.thaibirding.com/ornithology/lostplover.htm

[ Last edited by Dawnleaf at 26/10/2015 17:22 ]

Dawnleaf

In another article "A new breeding ground for White-faced Plover discovered in South China" written by Brian Ivon Jones, the legs of Swinhoe's Plover are described as follows:

"However, amongst the adults I saw three juveniles and five near-to-fledging young. It is interesting to note that the young are much paler than both nominate and eastern nihonensis races of Kentish Plover, being sandy coloured with faint speckling. They also, uniquely, have greenish-yellow legs as opposed to greyish or pink. This colour is apparently lost by the time they are fully fledged, by which time the legs have become the same greyish-pink as the adults."

Hope this helps! The article can be found in http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?print=1&a=2758

[ Last edited by Dawnleaf at 26/10/2015 17:22 ]

Jonathmartinez

Legs color varies a lot all year round and from an individuals to another, with some period during which Swinhoe's Plover are showing fairly dark legs (but never solid black as in KP).
Simply by browsing Internet, especially OBI, you will find easily that some Kentish Plover population are showing fairly pale or pink legs...

http://orientalbirdimages.org/se ... ize=1&Location=
http://orientalbirdimages.org/se ... ize=1&Location=
http://orientalbirdimages.org/se ... ize=1&Location=
http://orientalbirdimages.org/se ... ize=1&Location=

ect.ect....