Mystery Bird: White-fronted Plover, Charadrius marginatus

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[Mystery bird] White-fronted Plover, Charadrius marginatus, photographed in Swakopmund, Namibia, Africa [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]

Image: Dennis Paulson, April 2007 [larger view].

Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.

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I get to use my southern African book for this one. It and my Hayman, Marchant and Prater "Shorebirds" indicate that this bird is a non-breeding (male) White-fronted Sandplover Charadrius marginatus. The bird has a white forehead, a white supercilium that does not go all the way around the back of the head, a thin dark line through the eye, brownish upperparts and cap, a hint of the black frontal bar (remnant of breeding plumage) between the brown cap and the white forehead, and some salmony color on the underparts. Kittlitz's Sandplover C. pecuarius has a white or pale supercilium joining a white/pale collar, and much thicker patch of dark feathering around the eye. Kentish Plover C. alexandrinus is not an expected species in Namibia and has an incomplete breast band, thick dark patch around the eye, and longer wings.