kmatthew

These are not Kentish Plovers, these are Greater Sand Plovers. Greater Sand Plovers bill looks larger and "heavier" than Kentish. Also, the bird/birds in photo 2-4 shows a thick connected breast band which is not a feature of Kentish, Kentish have a much thinner disconnected breast band all year round. The first one is a juv. or non-breeding?? I am guessing a juv. but not very sure...

Cheers
Matt  8)

kmatthew

Looking at the photos of the first bird again, I agree that there is a white collar ring around it's neck. But at first glance, the bill looks too big for a Kentish. I thought about the bird's angle to the camera which could distort the neck patterns, but I looked through a lot of images and no Greater Sand Plover have a white collar ring going this far back.

So yes, I will say you are right on this one, this is a Kentish Plover!! Sorry for the incorrect identification.  ops: