RFI - request for identification

[Doug Donnait]

RFI - Plover in my backyard???
I am not a pro. birder. I observe birds at the feeder in my back yard (midtown Toronto), and have Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America book to try to identify them.
I have now seen the same bird twice in a week in my backyard, but it does not come to the feeders (seeds only). It hops around my vegetable garden, pokes its longish beak around the surface a few times, then flies off. And I cannot find anything in my birding book that fits its description.  It only stayed for about 10 seconds each time, but here are the features I've noted:
1. overall the bird is about 2 times the size of a bluejay.
2. mousey brown all over; slightly lighter brown underneath
3. longish beak and spindly legs, like a kildeer or plover
4. very noticable reddish-rust  mark on the top of the head, slightly redder colour than a robin's breast.
5. when it flies off, a very noticable white patch at the tail end, upper side, which is not noticable when not in flight as the wings cover it.

It did not make any sounds on either visit.
I'm stumped. There's nothing in my book that matches it, especially the reddish dot that covers most of the top of its head.
Does anyone have any idea what it might be?

[worth]

Could the bird you are seeing be a Northern Flicker? You'll find it in the woodpecker section of your field guide,
Just a guess.
Dave

[JTF]

See image below.

[Doug Donnait]

Hi Dave, thanks for the suggestion, but it was definitely not the flicker. Not anywhere near as colourful. And my bird was easily twice if not three times as big overall than the flicker. But the  red dot on the head is close. With my bird, though, the dot was directly on top of the head, not on the neck like the flicker.  I'll try to get a picture if it ever comes back

[cloaca]

And my bird was easily twice if not three times as big overall than the flicker.

That's a beefy plover.

[pinebrook]

If you cannot find the bird in the regular field guides, there is always the possibility that the bird escaped from a zoo or aviary, like those in Toronto or Niagara Falls?  I have seen at least three species of birds that fall into that category.  For example we have pictures of a beautiful Lady Amherst Pheasant that stayed around a certain woods in this area for many days until a fox or something got it.

[Doug Donnait]

Thanks for the tip. You're probably right. I've found Peterson's Guides (East and West) to be very complete in helping to identify birds for me in the past. This is for sure the first time I've tried to look up one and not found a match in the guide. So it's more than likely an foreign escapee.  Still, I think I'll now break down and invest in a digital camera (goodbye Minolta SLR100  circa 1965).  Much easier to identify with a picture.