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Project Noah Nature School
Pluvialis apricaria or fulva
"Breeding adults are spotted gold and black on the crown, back and wings. Their face and neck are black with a white border; they have a black breast and a dark rump. The legs are black. In winter, the black is lost and the plover then has a yellowish face and breast and white underparts." ~wiki
spotted in the mangrove channel at Ras Mohamed National Park
Thanks for the details, lowellmtyler - it's good to know what differences to look for!
At first, I also considered suggesting European. However, she seems skinnier with longer legs. Also, something about her beak looks different (ie. longer), too. From looking at other pictures of Europeans, their bodies look beefier, with shorter beaks and legs. The legs look darker/more black, too.
In any event, she's simply gorgeous. And she's definitely a Golden Plover. :)
Oh, good, she's a plover! Which is what I told my friends who were with me, I just wasn't 100% sure and had no idea which kind. Not surprised she's a migrant though as this same day we saw several other migrating birds - bee eaters, shrikes, and storks! My guidebook to birds of Egypt and the Middle East mentions both the European and Pacific Golden Plovers as rare migrants in the region. But from the wiki descriptions, it does sound like the European is more likely to be found here so I'll go with that ID for now. Thank you both for the help!
My guess is for the European Golden Plover, which does migrate to North Africa. The Pacific Golden Plover migrates down to south Asia and Australasia, California and Hawaii. In Europe it is only found as vagrant in Western Europe.
Very nice spotting.
This is my all-time favorite (migratory) bird. We have one that frequents our front yard. She comes daily and hangs out in front of our house. She even returned after breeding season in Alaska.
Spotted on Sep 23, 2013
Submitted on Oct 5, 2013
