From the Rarities Committee's Files

From the Rarities Committee's files American Golden Plover in Scilly The following details were submitted to the Rarities Committee on 1st July 1992: AMERICAN (LESSER) GOLDEN PLOVER Pluvialis dominka. Tresco, Scilly, 26th- 28th May 1992. This bird was seen by several observers during its stay, so I hope that (a) other descriptions are forthcoming and (b) this one doesn't have to be too detailed (bearing in mind recent comments in BB over skimpy notes!). I was about to scan the waders in Pentle Bay early evening of 26th May, when a young(er!) birder + wife approached me and said he'd been watching what he thought had to be a Lesser Golden Plover. I was almost disappointed, as, if he'd given me 10 seconds, I'd've found it myself! Anyway, after a half minute's slight scepticism, scanning two or diree winter-plumage Grey Plovers P. squatarola I 'picked up' the bird higher up the beach trotting around on dry sand above the tideline. Even at 100 m or more, I was able to tell him 'Yes, it's definitely a Lesser Goldie.' But which one? We were enjoying a continuous period of east winds, Golden Orioles Oriolus orw- lus on every walk, Red-footed Falcons Fako vespertinus invading the UK, etc., so I confess I almost assumed it would turn out to be ajuha [Pacific Golden Plover]—this despite my initial long distance jizz impression that told me it was going to turn out to be a dominkd The 'usual problem* was also exacerbated by the fact that all the dominka I've seen (about a dozen) have been nice, neat, grey autumn juveniles. This bird was clearly not all that grey—when I got close views I appreciated why. It turned out to be VERY worn and abraded, so that feather edges had often been lost and the overall tone had become a sort of 'wet-muddy' grey /brown—ashy—is that the word? Clearly the bird was a first-summer, which was showing no signs whatsoever of moulting into breeding plumage. I have often seen this plumage in waders that have decided not to migrate from their wintering grounds —e.g. May/June/July Curlew Sandpipers Calkins fermginea in the Seychelles, Red-necked Stints C. mficollis in Australia, and so on. They just get smoother and dingier! However, this Lesser Goldie still had the 'look' of dominka and, having accumulated notes and had extremely close views- it was pretty tame—1 was confident it was American. As it turned out, May '92 featured several 'Yanks'—no doubt birds that had wintered on this side of the Atlantic, as the constant easterlies surely wouldn't have favoured a spring crossing. SEPARATION FROM EUROPEAN GOLDEN PLOVER P. apricaria Clearly slimmer and longer-legged, and with long primary projection well beyond the tail. Conspicuous whitish supercilium and dark cap giving Dotterel like [Chamdrius morinellus] head pattern. In flight, whole underwing including axillaries dusky grey (thus also separating from Grey Plover). DISTINCTIVE CALLS . (Incidentally NOT, I suspect, a lot of use when separating from^&a.) This bird gave four distinct calls: 1) A Spotted Redshank-like [Tringa erythropus] 'tchuit' 2) A clear disyllabic 'twee-wee' 3) A hoarse disyllabic 'phee-wee' (as if it had a sore tihroat!) 4) A plaintive trisyllabic 'flu-ee-uu' This latter is the call I've most commonly heard from autumn juvs. \Brit. Bird! 87: 67-69, February 1994] 67 68 American Golden Plover in Scilly SEPARATION FROM PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVER P. Juba 1. Head pattern—clear white supercilium contrasting with dark eyeline and dark cap. P. Juba would generally show some yellow on supercilium and rather less dark cap. 2. Overall tone of upperparts—by no means as grey as a fresh autumn juv. and—for example—much browner than nearby Grey Plovers, but neverthe less a tone greyer than I'd expect in Juba in similar plumage. 3. Underparts—less coarsely marked than juba tends to be perhaps, with gentle vermiculations on upper breast merging into finer streaks on flanks and lower. 4. Leg length—area above die 'knee' about 2A of below—a little less long- legged than Juba—though I find this hard to judge. Feet did not project beyond tail in flight, 5. Primary projection of tertial length and tail tip all suggest dominica. four (poss. five?) primary tips visible (primaries darker than tertials) the primary projection as a whole was almost as long as the visible tertial 6. Overall jizz—dominica always strikes me as smaller-headed and more pot bellied and with a longer pointed tail end man felva, which has a more 'scrawny' jizz, slighter overall. I have seen masses of juba in Australia, Thailand, etc., but, though I was in Australia soon after Tresco, ironically I could find none to make an almost direct comparison. So my comments above are based on memory, past notes, photos, etc. I think the one warning note I would sound about a bird in first-summer (totally non-breeding) plumage like this individual would be concerning the overall browner tone than autumn juvs. It was, nevertheless, greyer than, say, a [European] Golden Plover—but really was very smooth. The mantle, for example, was almost uniformly ashy and only die top row of scapulars showed any real semblance of whitish 'spangling' with some darker feather centres. The only tinge of yellowish, however, was on the rump—and this visible only at very close range when the bird preened or flew. This is presumably because it's an area less susceptible to wear/bleaching. W. E. ODD IE 31 Heath Hurst Road, London NW3 American Golden Plover in Scilly 69 Peter Lansdown (former Chairman, British Birds Rarities Committee) has commented as fol lows: 'Bill Oddie's report of an American Golden Plover in the Isles of Scilly in May 1992 ap pears virtually as it was received by the Committee, with only a few minor editorial amendments. 'It was forwarded to the BBRC in support of the finders' submission, which, as it transpired, was never received. [Notes were eventually received from the finder, but not until after this record had been assessed and accepted on the basis of WEO's submission and after these comments by Peter Lansdown had been written. EDS.] 'Its format is thus noticeably different from those reports which have featured in this series to date (Brit. Birds 86: 3-5, 135-137, 206-209). Understandably, the report includes only some of the items of information that are requested on die front of the BBRC Record Form and does not contain a feather-by-feather description. Instead, as the identifier of the bird, Bill has covered the circumstances of the sighting, ageing and calls, and has concentrated on his reasons for identifying it as American Golden Plover rather dian Pacific Golden Plover or European Golden Plover. Though the characters for separating these three species have become better understood in recent years, this is still not a straightforward trio as regards identification, particularly when the individ ual involved is not in the more-familiar juvenile, first-winter or adult summer plumages. Bill Oddie's detailed notes were much praised by the Committee members during the record's circu lation for the thorough manner in which the characters used to separate American Golden Plover from its two close relatives were documented and discussed. 'Despite being on holiday at the time, and despite a visit to Australia shortly afterwards, Bill submitted his report to the BBRC, with a copy to die recorder for the Isles of Scilly, only five weeks after the sighting, thereby enabling the Committee to complete its assessment of the record in good time to include it in the 1992 Rarities Report (Brit. Birds 86: 477). John Marchant has commented that neither European Golden Plover nor Pacific Golden Plover shows such reduced 'spangling' in first-summer plumage as can American Golden Plover.' EDS .

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