Golden Plover (was - Bird Question)

Edg3

Hey again all.

I always seem to end up here once or twice in the run up to summer.

Anyway, recently we seen some odd looking birds that Ive never seen in the area before, I dont know the species at all and you'd be amazed what you get when you google "short fat birds".

I was out shooting birds (pictures) and they flew over my head. There was ALOT of them as you'll see in a couple images. I cropped one to show the best shot I got showing the shape (got it as they flew over me). I thought at first the were seagulls inland because of the weather but from what I could see they werent.

This is the one that gives the best shape for them.

Cropped form a larger image.







I havent seen them since though, they were there for one day (the field across the road from my house) and since then they havent shown back up again.

trebor28

someone with more experience will probably tell you exactly what they are but i think they are some sort of plover.

Edg3

trebor28 wrote: »

someone with more experience will probably tell you exactly what they are but i think they are some sort of plover.

The shape does look a bit like them, colors to but its hard to be sure. Lovely birds.

Vegeta

Initial thoughts were golden plover but I've only seen them a handful of times.

OpenYourEyes

hard to tell from the top pic, but the body shape and flocking behaviour match Golden Plover - I'd say that's most likely! Great birds to watch when they're in big flocks like that!

Edg3

Ive been watching birds for years and I'm pretty familiar with just about all the birds that pass through the area, this is new. We also recently had ducks which we never had before.

Edg3

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

hard to tell from the top pic, but the body shape and flocking behaviour match Golden Plover - I'd say that's most likely! Great birds to watch when they're in big flocks like that!

I just culdnt get any closer to them, they were very skittish. Even at 400mm I couldnt get a very good shot of them, they flew high and then in a tight bundle closer to the ground.

OpenYourEyes

Edg3 wrote: »

I just culdnt get any closer to them, they were very skittish. Even at 400mm I couldnt get a very good shot of them, they flew high and then in a tight bundle closer to the ground.

Yeah they still sound like Golden Plover! The majority should be in their summer plumage now too - lots of Gold on the back and black on their front - if the light is right you'll even see a bit of a golden shimmer as the flock turns in the air!

I think a lot of the birds here migrate to Iceland to breed, so the flock you saw might have been making their way out of the country.

Edg3

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

Yeah they still sound like Golden Plover! The majority should be in their summer plumage now too - lots of Gold on the back and black on their front - if the light is right you'll even see a bit of a golden shimmer as the flock turns in the air!

I think a lot of the birds here migrate to Iceland to breed, so the flock you saw might have been making their way out of the country.

Awesome, then I got really lucky being out that day. Yeah the shimmer sounds right, when they were flying around there was a definite weird reflection coming off them. Googled some images and it looks alot like them. I couldnt get close enough to see the colors for sure but I did see black and white for sure. I just found them so weird looking compared to what we normally get around here.

OpenYourEyes

Edg3 wrote: »

Awesome, then I got really lucky being out that day. Yeah the shimmer sounds right, when they were flying around there was a definite weird reflection coming off them. Googled some images and it looks alot like them. I couldnt get close enough to see the colors for sure but I did see black and white for sure. I just found them so weird looking compared to what we normally get around here.

Lovely little birds alright. With a bit of luck you might see them again in the late-autumn/winter when they're back in Ireland!

Edg3

I'll have to keep an eye out, hopefully they'll show up again seeing as they stopped here on the way there.

homerhop

Edg3 wrote: »

I'll have to keep an eye out, hopefully they'll show up again seeing as they stopped here on the way there.

They have a very distinctive call. I always associate them with the planting of spring barley. Nice flock of 30-40 of them fighting between my uncles and his neighbouring farm.