Diademed Sandpiper-plover
Diademed Sandpiper-plover, Phegornis mitchelli, is a must-see bird for most birders to South America. Its scarcity, striking plumage and somewhat uncertain taxanomic status has given it a "near mythical reputation".
Birding World Volume 8 no.7 page 268 states that Diademed Sandpiper-plover is "far from being a 'shorebird' .....found only high in the Andes (mostly at 4,000-5,000m), from central Peru south to western Bolivia, northern Chile and central Argentina. Its preferred habitat within the alpine (puna) zone is usually the vicinity of shallow, gravel-edged streams and freshwater lakes in bogs matted with cushion-plant and coarse sedges and grasses."
The bird photographed by Winty Harrington above is an adult exhibiting the white supercilia which meets on the forecrown to form the "diadem". Separating the sexes is not easy and, in the photograph above, may not be possible. In the female the diadem narrows slightly on the central forehead - which does appear to be the case in the photo above. But this may be a photo artefact.
Locating Diademed Sandpiper-plovers is far from easy with the terrain, their small size and unobtrusive behaviour all hindering the searching birder. Most birds are resident but some birds in the southern part of the range undertake local movements to lower altitudes during the southern hemisphere winter.
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