Lesser Sand Plover - a first for Norway

This superb first for Norway showed up at Jæren in Rogaland county (western Norway) on 15 July 2002. It stayed until the 17th, and these photos are from the 16th. Less than a week before, a Greater Sand Plover Charadrius leschenaultii was seen only a few kilometers away from this spot.

Identifyng this bird to species was an issue in itself, but Lesser Sand Plovers are also divided into subspecies and groups. According to the national rarities committee, this bird belong to the eastern "mongolus"-group...