Tweets,

Here's my description of the MOUNTAIN PLOVER. I you saw it differently,
please comment.

Gene Hunn.

Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus)

1 juvenile, North Jetty, Columbia River, Pacific County, 28 December 2000

Details by Eugene Hunn, 18476 47th Pl. NE, Lake Forest Park, WA 98155,
enhunn at home.com

This bird was first noted 22 December 2000 by Gary Fredricks of Washougal,
WA, who posted a description to OBOL, which was copied to Tweeters on 23
December. It has been seen regularly through the afternoon of the 28th at
least. It is most often seen by itself resting at the seaward edge of the
dunes amongst scattered driftwood.

I arrived ca. 2:20 PM Thursday afternoon and was fortunate that it had just
been relocated after a five hour search and I was directed to the spot (by
Ted Peterson, Curtis and Bobby Pearson, and Bob Merrick). During the hour I
observed it it moved just a few meters, running when we approached within 10
meters. It did not fly nor call during this time, but occasionally preened,
showing features of the outer wing and upper tail not otherwise visible on
the resting bird. It was quite alert at all times. The weather was perfect
with low sun behind and light breezes. I observed it mostly at 30X in my
Kowa II scope and at up to 60X in George Gerdts's Kowa 82mm scope, so we
were able to see each feather quite clearly.

It was typically plover shaped; more like a golden plover than a Killdeer
(which is perhaps about the same bulk but more elongate) and standing taller
and with a more prominent bill than a Semipalmated Plover. It was smaller
than a golden plover, though as it was alone I had no opportunity for direct
comparisons. The initial impression was of a nearly featureless, sandy
colored bird. However, on closer inspection one could see that the sandy
grayish brown coverts were rather broadly whitish to buff margined and that
the mantle, scapulars, and tertials were narrowly whitish to buff margined,
giving an overall scaly impression. The pale margins were obviously rather
worn, suggesting a juvenile that has retained its juvenal plumage. The
coverts, scapulars, and tertials also showed exceedingly fine dark shaft
streaks. The head was quite round, with a dark brown cap; the crown feathers
also narrowly pale margined giving the crown a salt-and-pepper effect. The
dark crown extended from behind the whitish forehead to the rear crown
somewhat behind the eye.The rear crown with the nape was considerably paler
overall than either the crown or the mantle. The whitish forehead merged
with a "soft" supercilium that wrapped around the eye behind and below,
which reminded me of a Warbling Vireo's face. A darker brown smudge covered
the lores and sub-loral area between the eye and the bill. The whitish eye
region was margined below by a narrow but ill-defined dark line. From the
side the eye was clearly "inset" into the head beneath the brow. The sides
of the neck and sides of the breast were washed light cinnamon, but this
color did not extend across the breast. The throat, central breast, belly,
and undertail were an off-white color. The tertials completely covered the
tip of the folded wing in front, but when the bird preened one could see the
blackish brown primaries and the broad blackish band on the distal portion
of the tail. The tail was narrowly white-margined on the tip and sides. The
tip of the folded wing was even with the tip of the tail or extended very
slightly beyond it. The base of the tail and the upper tail coverts were
basically the same sandy grayish brown as the coverts and mantle. The eye
and bill were black. The bill seemed quite long and heavy, typically
plover-shaped. The length of the bill seemed about equal to the distance
from the rear of the eye to the base of the bill. The "legs" were a sandy
gray, almost like the plumage of the back, but with yellowish-flesh tones. I
could just see the "wrist" joint below the belly feathers on the resting
bird, so the bird stood fairly tall, at least in comparison with
Semipalmated or Snowy Plovers.

This is apparently the third Washington state record, the first of which was
recorded not too far north of this spot at North Beach, also in Pacific
County, on 28 November 1964 (an immature female, collected). The second
record was of a spring migrant found by Dennis Paulson 6 May 1968 at
Turnbull NWR near Spokane (Paulson, Shorebirds of the Pacific Northwest,
1993, pg. 125-127; Mattocks, Hunn, and Wahl, "A Checklist of the Birds of
Washington State," Western Birds 7(1):14, 1976).