ML530686611

Age and sex

Unknown age, Unknown sex - 1

Observation details

Major vagrant, and 3rd Maine record. Continuing for third day; originally found by Tom Aversa on Jan 30. Confirmed by Doug Hitchcock on Jan 31, and then re-found this morning by Marjorie Watson. This is the 2nd winter record for the western North Atlantic, hot on the heels of the Jan 11-12, 2023 sighting near Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Although very similar, plumage details of the two indicate they are indeed separate individuals - the NS bird has more black in the breastband, and more white edgeing to feathers on the forecrown. Common Ringed Plover’s normal timeframe for vagrancy to this region is fall (primarily September), however these two winter sightings in Maine and Nova Scotia track with this past December’s rush of Northern Lapwing, etc found in Maine and coastal Canada which was likely the result of a negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) between Dec 3-13, 2022 which would have made a cross-Atlantic flight more feasible right as much of Europe’s ground was freezing and any lingering shorebirds would be eager to move toward more suitable wintering sites. The plover was present along the shoreline of Curtis Cove for the entire day. It was actively foraging on worms pulled out of the sand, and we saw it eat at least 20 over the course of this visit. After particularly successful rounds of catching worms, it would often pause and stand still or even tuck up one leg for a few minutes before beginning to hunt again. By patiently sitting along the water’s edge, the plover would often approach to within 10ft of us! A few times it wandered up higher onto the beach, but would always make its way back down to the water’s edge. It seemed generally unaffected by nearby Ring-billed Gulls, although one time it hunkered low - sitting flat on its stomach - when a Ring-billed made a rather low pass. ID points: Initial impression was a slightly larger, wider, and longer-winged Semipalmated Plover…. but still very cute! The white eyebrow was particularly prominent, and connected across the forehead. Extremely limited webbing (palmations) between the toes, especially between the outer and middle toes. Brown orbital skin, versus yellow. The primaries extended well beyond the tips of its tertials. This created a unique overall shape of a round plover with long, narrow wings jetting low out the back end; quite different from the more compact little oval/football shape of a Semipalmated. The legs seemed proportionally longer, and they were brighter orange-yellow than the pinkish color of winter Semipalmated. The brown color of the lores do extend to and even slightly below the corner of the gape. This was difficult to see, but is clear in photos. The brown breastband wrapping around each side of the neck was more extensive and deeper than the average winter Semipalmated. The bill was slightly longer (not as stubby) and blended blackish-orange (versus primarily black with an orangey base). It softly vocalized one time, and we did not manage to get an audio recording, but it was the distinctive ‘tooo-leep’ call. It has heavily worn wing coverts, with replaced scapulars. Feathers on the center of the back seem to show pale edging which may indicate juvenile plumage, and thus a bird hatched in 2022. Here is a Semipalmated Plover I photographed in coastal Virginia, January 2018 which makes for a nice comparison to this bird: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/80302351 **Update: the plover succumbed to the extreme cold and died on the morning of February 5th; the carcass was taken for a specimen collection.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS R7

Lens

EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

ISO

500

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/2500 sec

Dimensions

4769 pixels x 3179 pixels

Original file size

1.04 MB