Posted by Gary Potter (65.160.83.194) on March 20, 2002 at 11:30:45:
My immeiate impression on this bird was Black-bellied Plover, so I took a closer look. The blackish cap on this plover looks like an American Golden Plover, and the auricular smudge also resembles American G P, and I suppose that this may be why this photo is used as a "mystery bird". (Both of those charactertistics could be artifacts of the exposure or the scan.) The heavy bill, lack of golden color and primary extension are wrong for American G P, and nothing about looks like Pacific G P, so I have to agree with David and Phil that this is a rather typical fall juvenile Black-bellied Plover. --Gary