About a week ago I was driving home, going right past Government Canyon
when I spotted a hawk sitting in the top of a tree. It looked different, so
I pulled over and turned around, slowly approached it again. Got excellent
looks at it, seemed quite unwary. I had fleeting hopes that it might be a
Roadside Hawk, but alas it ended up being a beautiful adult Broad-winged
Hawk (typical color morph), intently staring at something in the grass. Not
often you get to see one perched, and from fairly close range at that!
On another note, I just got back from a quick trip to San Diego for a
conference. I stayed on Coronado Island (Navy Lodge at Naval Air Station).
Tuesday morning I went for a run along the beach, and crossed a large grass
field as I was heading back to the road. In the grass field was a large
plover in winter plumage. There was no black on the belly or breast at all,
but it was very clearly a large plover. The sun wasn't fully up yet so
lighting was poor, but I had carried my binoculars with me and I got the
sense that the feathers on its back were straw colored. As for the bill, it
didn't strike me as slender, seemed heavier like a Black-bellied. It flew
away directly away from me, so I was unable to see if the axillae were
black. Sibley guide says that some Pacific Golden Plovers retain winter
plumage all year round, but doesn't say the same thing for other large
plovers... Is this a unique characteristic of Pacific Golden Plover?
According to eBird data it is much more likely this was a Black-bellied
Plover. Anyone have any insight on this? Also, Sibley maps show all the
large plovers coming south of Alaska/Canada only for winter, but eBird
shows Black-bellied to be quite common in San Diego County year round. Why
the discrepancy?
Thanks,
Nate Nye
San Antonio
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