CLOSED: Seen in Hawai'i

I managed one very quick shot of this bird in really poor light on the north coast of O'ahu. I've had a bit of a go at it in Elements, but can't guarantee that the colour is accurate. It was flying over the ocean. Any ideas?

Looks like one of the sandplovers - can't tell whether Greater Sandplover Charadrius leschenaultii or Lesser Sandplover Charadrius mongolus; of the two, Lesser is the more likely. If I'm right, it's a pretty good record for Hawaii, worth sending the pic to the Hawaii bird recorder for their opinion.

Can you post an unedited version (except for cropping), please?

Resin

Voile.

Resin, do you have the contact details for the Hawai'i bird recorder. One of the Black-necked stilts I photographed had a couple of coloured bands.

Thanks! Not a sandplover sadly (your first photo-edit emphasized orange/red tones too much! - my attempt below), fairly certain now it is just another Pacific Golden Plover in a slightly odd state of moult.

Hmmm . . . oddly, Hawaii is blank in this list of US State recorders
http://home.rconnect.com/~phertzel/brc/brc.htm

Did find this though:
http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/birds/rlp-monograph/Introduction.htm
Email Peter Pyle - address near the end of the page in the 'Literature Cited' paragraph - with the Stilt details, and if you want to, also the plover photo with details of when and where it was taken, and ask him for confirmation of Pacific Golden Plover (or not!).

Resin

Thanks for that, Resin. I've just emailed the Bishop Museum with the cropped but otherwise unaltered image of this bird. I'll update this thread when I hear anything. I went a-googling this afternoon and have emailed the Pacific Coast Joint Venture with the images of the banded Stilt. If I don't hear back from them, I'll email the Bishop Museum.

I didn't alter the colour at all when I attacked the image in Elements, just lightened shadows and sharpened it a bit. It did the reddening all on its own. :)

I've received an email from PCJV pertaining to the banded stilt. It was banded in June 2000 at Hamakua Marsh on O'ahu. I don't know if it was banded as a chick or if it was already an adult. Here's a shot of this particle bird.

Haven't had a response from the Bishop Museum yet.

That's a good age - nice result!

Resin

I've heard back about the bird at the top of this thread and it appears it is indeed a Pacific Golden Plover in moult. Thanks again, Resin.