American Golden-Plover (Pluvialis dominica), Gila River Valley near Tres Rios, Phoenix AZ, Maricopa County

This American Golden-Plover was found and photographed by Louis Hoeniger on 02 April 2015 and by Tommy DeBardeleben on 03 April 2015 and  Laurence Butler on 04 April 2015

Casual migrant (less than 40 records for the state), particularly in spring, with this individual being earlier than most spring reports

Eliminating Black-bellied Plover is fairly straightforward given this bird's thin bill, dark cap, long wings, and relatively long legs, apparent in the photos of the perched bird. The flight shot is the real clincher, though, showing dusky, not black, axillars and a dark rump and tail. Separating this bird from the very similar Pacific Golden-Plover is much more difficult (see here), but there are only two records of Pacific for Arizona (plus a third that is currently circulating).Characters which support the identification of this bird as the expected American Golden-Plover: Very long primary projection with at least three completely exposed primary tips (the fourth is roughly the same length as the longest tertial), tertials that extend less than half way down the tail,  no golden or bright buffy feathering anywhere on the plumage, and legs that do not extend beyond the tail in flight.

02 April 2015, photo by Louis Hoeniger

 

04 April 2015, photo by Laurence Butler

03 April 2015, photo by Tommy DeBardeleben

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