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This Lesser Golden Plover was photographed in late Spring (May) by Martin Reid; the plumage and long wings definitely favor AMGP, yet the tertial position and leg/bill dimensions strongly favor PAGP:

This comparison is lifted directly from the preceding image - it shows that the primary projection is c. the same length as the bill ( D. Paulson in "Shorebirds of the Pacific Northwest" indicates that this as a fulva feature). in the field it was obvious that there were only three primary tips visible, with the fourth tip lying just short of the tertial tip (and thus obscured by it). Note also that the gap between the tertial tip and the tail tip is very small:

The true pattern of the face is shown in the following four images; the tiniest bit of shadow seemed to cause a dark smudge to appear ahead and behind the eye; note in the first image how the brow bulges out over the large eye, so that shadowing is readily created:

The undertail coverts were perhaps in molt, as they looked ragged, and shorter in the center:

The legs consistently looked long and rather gangly in the field, and I think this is borne out by these images; looking at this next pic, it seems clear that the feet would protrude beyond the tail when in normal flight ( I was not able to confirm this, as the three short flights it made were over before I could clearly examine this point). Note: it called once during two if these three brief flights ( at close range) - both times a clear "Chu-wit" that was much closer to Spotted Redshank (with which I am familiar) than any dominica I have heard (to my ear they sound more like "duu-wee" or possibly "chu-wee", and more plaintive):


In the above image, the tertails have slid over the far side, exposing a great deal more of the primaries. The "Three-Legged Plover" below is a crop of the same image, but with the dangling tarsus/ foot copied and straightened-out to roughly simulate the foot position in flight - I feel this demonstrates that most of the foot would be visible beyond the tail in flight ( keep in mind that in flight the leg would be tucked tight under the tail and the foot would be"in-line" rather than at an angle, as in this mock-up):

The spread wing reveals a prominent white wedge at the base of the primaries, almost recalling a skua:

- while some literature states that this is not a feature of either fulva or dominica, I have located a number of published photos that demonstrate they can show this effect: - plus Paulson illustrates fulva and dominica with this pale wedge ( pages 91).
NOTE: a central tail feather is visible below, just left of the outer secondaries; the pattern and degree of contrast point to it being an alternate-plumage feather; the light chevrons are very pale and wider than the dark chevrons, which do not appear to meet each other along the central feather shaft (as with most AMGPs?):

The left-wing tertials appeared to be molting, as there was a fresh-looking tertial lying over the primaries plus a worn, faded, whispy tertial that mostly fluttered in the breeze and rarely fell down over the newer tertial; this newer feather was presumed to not be fully-grown, as in direct comparison to the tertials on the right wing, it was clearly shorter:

- also note that the undertail coverts fall short of even the still-growing tertial on the left side (and thus were even more distant from the tertial tip on the right side).

Update May 17, 2000: One other feature seen in the field was that the legs ( and to some extent the bill base) had a distinct olive tone - something I've never seen in dominica - but is this meaningful?
Here is a fulva from Hong Kong in late April; although the primaries are not as long as on the mystery bird, they show a similar pattern of primary tip spacing, with the tip of the 3rd primary roughly level with the tail tip ( as in the mystery bird), also compare the tibia/tarsus lengths to the bottom image of the mystery bird (copied from above):

Hong Kong:

Fort Worth: