Based on that, this bird seemed like a candidate for golden-plover. I didn't have a field guide with me, but I did have a camera, so I took some pictures and some video of the plover. I knew the key field mark to look for were the axillaries, the "wingpits" which on a Black-bellied would be black, but on a golden-plover would be gray. But birds don't often show their axillaries unless they fly. So I watched this bird for about 30 minutes, catching little glimpses of the wingpits, never seeing any black. Eventually, the bird took a long flight a stretched its wings up above its back giving me a brief but good look at the gray axillaries. This was a golden-plover! But what kind? Two species are possible in Santa Cruz, American which is much rarer and not likely at all in this habitat, and Pacific, the more likely, but they are tough to separate, and I had no experience with either. After consulting with field guides and some information in other books and online, I felt I had seen a Pacific Golden-Plover, which while not a mega-rarity, would be a lifer for me and a notable find. But I wasn't sure. So I worked on my photos and sent some to two local birding experts, with inconclusive results (the photos were not very good, see above). I emailed my birding friend Phil Brown that there was a possible Pacific Golden-Plover out there and went to bed.
The next morning before work, I went back there to try to get better photos, but the bird wasn't there, so off to work I went. But soon, I got emails from Phil from his iPhone that he was seeing the bird and all its pertinent field marks, so I posted to MBB, the local bird sightings email list. After work I went back and enjoyed the bird with Pete and Nancy and was able to see the key Pacific Golden-Plover field mark, the short primary projection, in their scope. I also got some slightly better photos such as the one above.
Sunday morning I went on a Santa Cruz Bird Club field trip to Quail Hollow Ranch led by Alex Rinkert, which was great, with several breeding bird species that I don't see near the coast. After trying for and "dipping" (British for not seeing) on Hermit Warbler at Kathy Kuyper's spot in Henry Cowell, I went back to the scene of my victory, Terrace Point. Alex and Kathy were there and soon Steve Gerow but no golden-plover. I did get to see streams of loons, a Red Phalarope, and some Bonaparte's Gulls.
Over the next couple days, quite a few birders saw and posted the golden-plover. Though it has only happened a couple times, I feel great when other birders "chase" and enjoy a bird first found by me, though Phil was the first to really ID this bird and David Suddjian confirmed the ID. Then, Steve posted that a second Pacific Golden-Plover had joined this first one. The original bird was determined to be a one-year-old just molting into breeding plumage, but the second bird was an adult in full, beautiful breeding plumage!
So, on Friday, May 7th, a week after my initial sighting, I returned to Terrace Point and spent an hour and a half with the two Pacific Golden-Plovers and trying to get some better pictures. The adult in breeding plumage is a strong candidate for the prettiest shorebird I have ever seen (with breeding plumage Red Phalaropes and maybe Red-necked Phalaropes being other strong candidates).
The image above shows the adult plover at top with its black frontparts, and the younger bird below with its golden-specked back. I hope these guys stick around all summer, pleasing me and any other birders who stop by to enjoy them.
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