Three Plovers

The generosity of fellow birder Jim Martin sharing his find led to my first close-up view of an American golden-plover (Pluvialis dominica)

Golden Plovers

Moments before I had just finished photographing a small flock of Black-bellied plovers when I saw Jim a few hundred feet away. I was careful not to disturb his time with the birds when he beckoned me over to share the experience..how cool is that!

Golden Plover stretching; Note the golden plumage absent in the Black-bellied Plover below.

There were two birds resting and feeding along the tideline. The American golden-plover is not that common and among the thousands of Black-bellied plover (Pluvialis squatarola) spread out on Boundary Bay they can easily be overlooked. This is where the experience of knowledgeable birders like Jim and Mike Tabak can point out the finer details between the species to those of us are 'shore bird challenged' During a four hour photo session I also photographed a third plover, the Semipalmated plover (Charasdrius semipalmatus)
Another great day out which ended with a glorious Fall sunset and a few more shorebirds, including a "lifer" which i'll post in a second blog.

Black-bellied plover (left and above)

Semipalmated Plover