In terms of overall plumabge color,this could be either Black-bellied or Golden.I don't suppose you have a profile photo ,which clearly shows the extent to which the primaries extend beyond the tertials and the tail tip. In Black bellied the wings extend about to tail tips and not that far beyond the tertials. In the first pic it looks as though there are about 4 primary tips that extend past the tertials,this would pretty much exclude all other Pluvalis plovers. Also, the bird does appear somewhat long legged and slim billed for a Black Bellied Plover. Since we're on the topic we might as well exclude the other Golden Plover species such as Pacific and European(annual in Newfoundland and alway sa consideration for us). Pacific would be much more golden, show a noticible longer slimmer bill,longer legs and shorter wings- 2-3 primaries beyond tertials. European Golden Plovers are extremely golden,particularly ont he head and below, they are noticbly fuller breasted and shorter billed- they also appear to somewhat pot-bellied. I assume that you never saw this birds underwings- if you had you would have seen that they were a grayish color, therby excluding Black-bellied( black "arm pits") and European Golden Plover,which has white "arm pits"..oh and by the way nice image..really sweet BG!!!
James
I think it's an American Golden-Plover. I just posted one on my website that I photographed last week. I usually have one of my birding buddies in KY confirm my ID. Nice images, by the way.
I agree with American Golden-Plover based upon your impression of smaller size, the gray streaking on the belly (instead of white on the Black-bellied) and the somewhat stronger contrast between the dark cap and supercillium. I agree the bill looks thinner than the Black-bellied too. Nice find James!
All good stuff above. The best field mark that I know for separating the juveniles of the two species is that black-bellieds are pure white on the rear flanks while goldens are barred there (as this bird is). Also, the cap is dark on golden much lighter on black-bellied. Great find; I have never seen one in FL.
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Everybody appears to have overlooked the dark rump on this bird, which is clearly visible on the lower image. This is definitely an American Golden Plover, as a Black-bellied Plover would have a white rump!;)
The ID info supplied by Dave to separate the 3 Golden Plovers is very useful, especially so given there is a European Golden Plover in Maine - see here. I understand this is the 1st record for Lower 48, but perhaps other birds have been overlooked?
What am I? ID help please.
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