[texbirds] Re: RFI: Black-bellied Plover chicks and one-winged White Pelican ...
- From: Joseph Kennedy <josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Stenmead@xxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 20:34:06 -0500
I think that the 2 "younger" plovers are either summering birds or birds
that summered to the north and are going back south.
Last year in July I had a large group of black-bellied plover that came in
from somewhere and landed in a kelp patch ahead of me on Follett's Island
maybe a couple of weeks earlier in the summer. They were in a plumage that
I did not recognize and I even had to work to say that they were not
mountain plovers. But the bill said black-belly and they eventually flew to
a pool beside the highway showing the black wingpits.
I finally decided that they were molting into non-breeding plumage from a
non-breeding plumage (thus no black on the belly) but it is a plumage I
never found again when I tried for pictures. Oddly, the group kept their
necks very stretched and erect which accentuated the eyestripe adding to
the odd look.
There may have been some sun-bleach involved too but it is really to early
for chicks to be flying anywhere. The books would say that it is failed
breeders etc that are migrants now. Young of the year would be maybe as
much as 6 weeks later than our early birds. My early young are often at the
shell mounds at Smith Point when there are some broad-winged hawks in the
air.
On Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 3:49 PM, <Stenmead@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> Thank you John, Ron and Brush!
> I now understand the biologically correct meaning of "chick".
> I DID mean a juvenile that looks like it hatched this year, not a
> non-flying dependent "chick".
--
Joseph C. Kennedy
on Buffalo Bayou in West Houston
Josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx
Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at
//www.freelists.org/list/texbirds
Reposting of traffic from TEXBIRDS is prohibited without seeking permission
from the List Owner
Other related posts:
