PLOVERS, TURNSTONES, AND SUR F-BIRDS : Family Charadmdae [2.43] 



Young: like winter adults, but spotted above with light yellow, gray, and black. 

 Length: 10. 50-12.. oo, wing 7.50, bill i.io, tarsus 1.95." (Bailey) Nest: A slight 

 depression, lined with a few bits of grass and leaves. Eggs: 4, with a pink, green, 

 or brown ground color, usually most heavily spotted with dark brown about the 

 larger end. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds on Arctic Coast from Alaska to Keewatin and on 

 islands to north. Winters from western Washington on coast, Texas, Louisiana, 

 and Virginia far south into South America. In Oregon: Uncommon migrant and 

 winter resident along coast. 



THE BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, with its checkered back and black breast and 

 belly, is one of the handsomest and most striking of all shore birds, but 

 unfortunately it seldom stops on the Oregon coast while in this showy 

 attire. It seems far more abundant at Grays Harbor, Washington. In 

 fact, the only spring record for Oregon known to us is of a small flock 

 found by the authors together on the beach near Netarts, May 2., 1911. 

 Fall records are more numerous. The first specimen taken in Oregon is 

 one now in the United States National Museum labeled "Columbia 

 River, October 2.1, 1836" and is listed by Cassin (Baird, Cassin, and 

 Lawrence 1858) as an Oregon bird. Johnson (1880) reported the species 

 as a Willamette Valley migrant, Nichols (1909) found it on the coast, 

 July 2.6, 1908, and Walker (192.4) saw two and took one at Netarts, 

 October i, 1911. Our earliest fall record is August 13 (Tillamook County). 

 We have two winter records for the Lincoln County coast, taken by 

 Gabrielson January 2.0 and November 2.4. In addition, we have noted it 

 on August 13, 15, and 2.0, September 30, and October 19 and 2.0, all in 

 Lincoln and Tillamook Counties. In fall and winter plumage, this 

 grayish-looking bird with grayish-white under parts blends so well with 

 the dry sand of the dune edges it loves to frequent that it often escapes 

 notice so long as it remains motionless. 



Surf-bird: 



virgata (Gmelin) 



DESCRIPTION. "Base of tail, upper coverts, and a broad bar on wing white. Adults 

 in summer: upper parts, head, neck, and chest, slaty gray, specked and streaked with 

 whitish, and spotted on scapulars with rufous; belly white, specked with dusky. 

 Adults in winter: like summer adults, but with upper parts, head, and neck plain 

 dusky or slaty gray. Young: back brownish gray, feathers edged with white; throat 

 and breast white, streaked with dusky. Length: 10, wing 7, bill .95-1.00, tarsus 

 1.2.0-1.2.5." (Bailey) Nest: A slight natural depression, lined with bits of lichens 

 and moss. Eggs: 4, buff, marked with splashes and spots of brown and fawn. 

 DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds in mountains of south-central Alaska. Winters 

 from Queen Charlotte Islands south to Straits of Magellan. In Oregon: Regular 

 winter visitor to coast. Arrives in August and remains until April. 



TOWNSEND (1839) took the first Oregon specimen of the little-known 

 Surf-bird on November i, 1836, at the mouth of the Columbia River. 



