If Only They Were All This Easy

Black-bellied plover (photo by Chuck Tague)

At this time of year I’m “shorebird challenged.”   Some days I can barely identify them.

A couple of years ago I learned to look at legs and beaks … leg color, beak color, leg length, beak length, beak shape … but every year I forget what I’ve learned and have to start over.

None of their identities come easy.  Except this one.

In breeding plumage a black-bellied plover has a black belly, otherwise his belly is white. However, when he opens his wings his armpits give him away. He never loses his black axillaries.

The trick is to get him to open his wings.

I wish all shorebirds were this easy.

(photo by Chuck Tague)

3 thoughts on “If Only They Were All This Easy

  1. Thank you for pointing this out. So far, I have only seen these birds in winter when to identify them as black-bellied plovers seems so completely wrong.

  2. I have to laugh sometimes at the seemingly strange statements only birders understand. For instance, “I knew it was a black-bellied plover because it had black armpits.” When I was fairly new to birding one spring, I was happy to see a certain bird in breeding plumage vs. its fall garb. I said to my birding friend who knew exactly what I meant, “Today I spotted a spotted spotted sandpiper.”

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