Submission No 252: Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius, Broome, WA 27th August 1998. Submitted by Danny Rogers.

Verdict: Accepted
A submission that represents the sighting of a plover observed on 27th August 1998 on one of the small settling ponds at the Broome Sewerage Farm, after first being reported by Nicole Grenfell and Julie Deleyev, assistant wardens at the Broome Bird Observatory and then relocated by Peter Collins and Jin-Young Park on the 26th August 1998. The observer was able to approach to within 20 metres of the bird, allowing good ‘scope views and binocular’ views of the bird in flight. Observations were made for about an hour from 1630 - 1730 hrs; light conditions were good, with no cloud and the lateness of the afternoon reduced any problems from glare or heat-haze.

The description provided is particularly thorough and lists all the significant features of Little Ringed Plover including: a complete dark-brown breast-band, a white hind-collar, lemon-yellow legs, a white forehead & supercilium, a pale lemon orbital-ring, and a uniform mid-brown upperwing without a conspicuous wing-bar. The combination of which rules out all other contenders. To quote directly from the observers submission: The precise age of the bird is difficult to establish. The outer primaries looked black and reasonably fresh. First-year Little Ringed Plovers typically retain their juvenile primaries for the first year of life, so a 12 month old immature would be expected to show browner, more worn primaries than the individual referred to here. However, it is not certain that the bird was an adult in non-breeding plumage. Firstly, it seems surprising that an adult should show virtually no breeding plumage at the end of August, (Many adult waders, especially Greater Sand Plovers, have begun to return to north-west Australia by this time. However adults are still readily identified as they still possess extensive remnants of breeding plumage). Secondly, according to Cramp & Simmons (1983), a few first-year Little Ringed Plovers perform a complete post-juvenile primary-moult; such birds would therefore have fresh first-basic primaries in late August. In view of these difficulties, it does not seem possible to age this bird safely.

Charadrius dubius curonicus is the only subspecies of Little Ringed Plover which develops a non-breeding plumage (Mees 1982), so subspecific identification of this individual as curonicus is straightforward. Carter & Rogers (1988) have discussed the typical appearance of Little Ringed Plovers in Australia and this individual fits well with their findings. Three noteworthy points were that:

• The legs were light lemon-yellow. Often Little Ringed Plovers in Australia have a stronger orange tinge to the legs. In contrast, the legs of subspecies curonicus in the western palearctic are usually some shade of fleshy pink.
• The central tail feathers visible (probably but not certainly t1) had narrow white tips. This is not usual for western populations of curonicus, or for nominate dubius, but a white tail-tip was reported for an individual seen near Fitzroy Crossing (Carter & Rogers 1988), and is hinted at in the two curonicus skins that have been collected in Australia. The relevance of this feature remains unclear.
• There was a small pale area at the base of the lower mandible - this area was dirty pink, rather than yellow, and is consistent with the suggestion by Carter & Rogers that yellow patches seen in the bills of skins of Little Ringed Plovers are a result of post-mortem discolouration: in life these areas are also pale but their colour differs (often some shade of pink). It is noteworthy that this marking was definitely a small spot near the base of the lower mandible; other observers have sometimes misinterpreted the marking as a pale base to the lower mandible (see Carter & Rogers 1988).

The committee concurs with the observers findings and has no hesitation in accepting this record as a Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius curonicus, representing the 7th record for Australia to be accepted by the committee.

References and Bibliography:

• Carter, M.J. & D. Rogers. 1988. Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius: A Kimberley record with comments on morphological and vocal aspects of eastern populations. Australian Birdwatcher 17: 269-277.
• Cramp, S & Simmons, K.. 1983. Birds of the Western Palearctic, Vol 3 Waders to Gulls. Oxford University Press.
• Hayman, P. et al. 1986. Shorebirds: An identification guide to the Waders of the World. Croom Helm. Sydney.
• Mees, G.F. 1982. Zoologische Verhandlingne 191: 1-187

Tony Palliser
Chairman Birds Australia Rarities Committee (BARC)