Pacific Golden-Plover at the Tijuana River mouth

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2014] – I discovered this Pacific Golden-Plover Pluvialis fulva accompanying a small band of Black-bellied Plover near the Tijuana River mouth in Imperial Beach on 26 Dec 2014. In the warmly colored afternoon sunshine the yellowish-gold feathering about the face, and “gold” spangles on the back, show very well in the photographs. This species was last reported at this location a few months ago in the first week of October. So this would appear to be a new bird in the area.

The abundant large gold spots on the back, golden-yellow washed face with a noticeable “ear-spot”, absence of a prominent white supercilium and not having really a capped look, and the long tertials with only three primary feather tips clearly emerged beyond, all point to this bird being a Pacific Golden-Plover rather than a much rarer American Golden-Plover. It was noticeably smaller than nearby Black-bellied Plovers and looked relatively “lanky” on its long legs compared to this species.