NONBREEDING BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, BUNCHE BEACH PRESERVE/SAN CARLOS BAY, FT. MYERS, FL

   We have identified this plover as a Black-bellied Plover rather than the very similar American Golden Plover as follows:

• It is much more likely (by about 99 to 1) to find on the beach a Black-bellied Plover than a American Golden-Plover.   The American Golden-Plover you usually find in dry mudflats, shortgrass fields and pastures.
• The belly is white, rather than the gray of the nonbreeding American Golden-Plover.
• The bill is very stout; more like the bill of a Black-bellied Plover than the bii of an American Golden-Plover.