JUVENILE SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, PRESQU'ILE PROVINCIAL PARK, BRIGHTON, ON, 9/5/2015

      This plover is identified as a  juvenile Semipalmated Plover as follows:

• Single black breast-band
• Black patch around eye : in an adult this black patch extends across the forehead and above its bill; in a juvenile the extention is pale and may not be continuous.
• The bill in a juvenile can be all black, while in an adult it is orange and black.

   The Semipalmated Plover is new to our life List, which now stands at 152.

JUVENILE SANDERLING, PRESQU'ILE PROVINCIAL PARK, BRIGHTON, ON

HERRING GULLS, PRESQU'ILE PROVINCIAL PARK, BRIGHTON, ON

   The first photo is of a 1st winter Herring Gull in flight.  In the second photo, the gull in the upper right is an adult Herring Gull and the gull in the center is a 1st winter Herring Gull.

PAIR OF MERLINS, PRESQU'ILE PROVINCIAL PARK, BRIGHTON, ON

      We identified these falcons as a Merlins  (rather than as Peregrine Falcons) by the observation that the wingtips do not reach the tail tip (as they do in the Peregrin Falcon).  These falcons were seen at the same time very close to one another and thus are probably a pair, male and female.

   The Merlin is a new species to our Life List, which now stands at 151.

OSPREY, PRESQU'ILE PROVINCIAL PARK, BRIGHTON, ON

KILDEER, PRESQU'ILE PROVINCIAL PARK, BRIGHTON, ON

AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER, PRESQU'ILE PROVINCIAL PARK, BRIGHTON, ON, 9/5/2015

   This plover has been identified as an American Golden Plover, rather than the similar looking Black-bellied Plover as follows:

• The black on the undertail coverts, rather than the all-white of the Black-bellied Plover.
• The black cap vs. the pale cap of a Black-bellied Plover.

   This plover as partially molted and is migrating.  The American Golden Plover is among the migratory birds that interrupt molt for migration and then resume it at the end of migration.  This plover has one of the longest migratory journeys of any shorebird.  It breeds in the Canadian and Alaskan high Arctic tundra and migrates to central and southern South America for the winter.

   The American Golden Plover is a new species to our Life List, which now stands at 150.