Both Plovers

May 11, as I was observing a pair of a male and female Greater Painted-Snipes (Rostratula benghalensis) at Sekinoe, Furuso-san came by and showed me photos of a Kentish Plover chick she surprisingly found at Mochigahama beach the day before. I've never seen a plover chick before, so I was very excited and wanted to head to Mochigahama right away, but unfortunately it was already too dark. I had to wait until May 13, when I finally had enough free time to go and look for the plover chick. As soon as I arrived at the place where she found the chick, I suddenly heard a distinct whistling call. I looked around and finally spotted a male Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nihonensis) standing still giving its call from the top of the rock. I knew right then that the chick must be somewhere near, but it's too difficult for me to find the chick by myself, so I stepped back and observed the adult bird. The adult kept calling for a short moment, then a tiny object came moving rapidly along the dirty rocks. Yes, it was the chick!

Male Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nihonensis)

Kentish Plovers in Japan seem to be much paler than the ones I normally saw in Thailand. As suggested by Dave Bakewell in this post, the ones occur in Japan are the race C.a.nihonensis, while the ones in Thailand are the nominate 'alexandrinus' race. This male here is especially pale, almost as pale as the recently split White-faced or Swinhoe's Plover (Charadrius dealbatus), except for its distinct black lores. Its breastpatches are thin and short, and its eyestripes are faint. It looks almost like a combination between the male Kentish (C.a.alexandrinus) and Swinhoe's Plover in the photo taken in Thailand by Smith Sutibut below.

Photo by Smith Sutibut; Kentish Plover (left) and Swinhoe's Plover (right)

Male Kentish Plover

Here's the chick

Best attempt to camouflage. Not working? Then run!

After the chick finally showed up, it became very easy for me to take photos. The only thing I needed to concentrate on is the chick. I had to focus on it wherever it ran to, otherwise I would lose both the chick and the parent. The chick was extremely cute. When I got too close it would just stayed still as if it was dead. It always tried to run to the closest object that looked similar to its plumage, like stones or washed up seaweed. If I stepped back a little and sat still for a moment, it would slowly rose up and quickly ran off as fast as possible. It was entertaining for me to watch the adult running along with the chick looking for food along the beach. I always made sure that they were together before I left the place. Both of them have already left the beach now. I hope that they are doing well somewhere along the coastline of Beppu.

Male assuming breeding plumage Greater Sand Plover (Charadrius leschenaultii)

Apart from the cute pair of Kentish Plovers, Mochigahama beach also offered a nice male moulting into breeding plumage Greater Sand Plover (Charadrius leschenaultii). The bird was first found on the evening of May 13, and stayed for a few days later. It was a bit sad that the bird was still on its way moulting into breeding plumage. It'd be wonderful if it's already fully moulted. About a week before I found this bird, a pair of Lesser Sand Plovers was also found at Rokushou-en. One of the bird was also in its breeding plumage and it looked very beautiful. Another one was still in its non-breeding plumage though. I kinda regretted that I didn't check the Oita Birds website earlier. By the way, the Greater Sand Plover is a better find though, as it is much scarcer than the Lesser Sand here in Japan. Both of them are numerous in Thailand, but the chances to get close to them are very few.

Half Time Break

As you can see that I still haven't finished posting my Malaysia trip report, there's something interesting I want to share as the half time break. Recently I've been out birding again(finally), and luckily I met Furuso-san at Sekinoe the other day and she told me about a Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) family at Mochigahama (餅ヶ浜). Yesterday, I was not so busy so I took a walk to the Mochigahama beach to look for the plovers. It was about 11am and it was pretty hot although a bit overcast. I finally spotted the adult male in worn breeding plumage calling loudly for its chick which was running for a place to hide. The chick was extremely cute! Even though I've seen so many photos of plover's chicks before, it looks even cuter in real life.

Kentish Plover's chick playing dead

Breeding male Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nihonensis)

It was quite interesting to see that the male bird was the only one that took care of the chick. I briefly spotted the female bird perching in a distance before disappearing and never to be found again. Kentish Plovers in East Asia have noticeably paler legs than the ones normally found in Thailand. Male birds also have duller rufous cap in breeding plumage. According to Diegnan, the paler-legged population in East Asia is regarded as the subspecies 'nihonensis', while the one in Thailand is the nominate 'alexandrinus'. I'll sure be posting more about this family once I finished my trip report.

Male assuming breeding plumage Greater Sand Plover (Charadrius leschenaultii)

Not only the Kentish Plover family that I needed to talk about, I also found this nice Greater Sand Plover (Charadrius leschenaultii) feeding around the same spot as well. The bird seems to favour the northernmost area of the beach, close to Beppu Kotsu Center. I first found it on yesterday evening, and it was still presenting throughout the whole day today. The bird is a male and still on its way moulting into a breeding plumage. Two weeks ago, there was a report of 2 Lesser Sand Plovers, one in full breeding plumage and one in non-breeding plumage, at Shoningahama, and I felt sad that I missed them two. Right now I feel much better to have found this Greater Sand Plover, and I'm also happy to know that it's a scarce migrant in Japan (though we always get both Lesser and Greater in large numbers every winter in Thailand). It adds up to No.146 in my Beppu List.