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Monday, April 4, 2011

The plovers of Kitty Miller Bay - Help please!

In a rare joint sitting of the WFS twitch the Buff Budgies & Ruddy Turnstones find themselves needing help to confirm the identity of this small plover. This flock of about 20 birds was at Kitty Miller Bay at dead low tide yesterday. This bay is on the Southern Ocean coastline of Phillip Island in Victoria.

Expecting sanderling we soon realised that these little fellas were some sort of small plover. Book descriptions and illustrations had us trending towards lesser sand plover but habitat doesn't seem quite right (more prone to mudflats?) and there appear few Phillip Island sightings (none in eremaea).

Apart from the hooded plover, the local prominent small plover is the red-capped but I am wondering about double-banded?

The pictures are not great but may assist (clicking will enlarge). Can anyone help?:




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