ML594251171

Age and sex

Adult, Unknown sex - 1

Observation details

Kathleen MacAulay immediately noted the characteristic facial pattern of this vagrant among three Semipalmated Plovers at Cooks Beach. We then spent 30 minutes acquiring photographs with a focus on getting views of the critical lack of palmation between the inner and middle toes. We were recording audio for the full 30 minutes, but it never did call. This is the first provincial record in summer (Jun-Jul) and the fourth with photographs. Including this report, there have now been seven records with varying levels of supporting documentation going back to our first in 1985. Ian McLaren's All the Bird of Nova Scotia mentions five reports of this species. Below is a list of all previous reports with varying levels of documentation. Note that three in the list below were not conclusively identified as Common Ringed Plovers because of ambiguous features or a lack of documentation. -Nov 2-9, 1985 Cherry Hill Beach John & Shirley Cohrs; Sylvia Fullerton -- NS Birds 28 (1) p.15 -- immature, calls heard, no photo -Oct 7, 1989 Seal Island Ian McLaren, Eric Mills, Fulton Lavender, Blake Maybank -- NS Birds 32 (1) p. 12 and 32 (2) pp. 19-22 -- immature, lengthy desc., photo -Nov 8, 1993 Cherry Hill Beach John & Shirley Cohrs -- NS Birds 36 (1) p. 14 -- immature, heard -Nov 22, 1998 Cape Sable Island Johnny Nickerson, Murray Newell -- NS Birds 41 (1) p. 12 -- immature, no calls heard or webbing seen (ID not conclusive as per observers) -Sep 4, 2009 Conrad Beach Nick Honig, Tuma Young -- NS Birds 52 (1) p. 18 & 20 -- worn adult, photo (ID not conclusive) -Dec 11, 2012 Cape Sable Island Johnny & Sandra Nickerson -- NS Birds 55 (2) p. 17 -- no calls, no photo -Sep 1, 2017 Bon Portage Island David Bell, Danae Mouton, desc. -- NS Birds 60 (1) p. 21 -- https://ebird.org/checklist/S38950327 -- calls heard, no photo -Aug 13, 2021 Scots Bay Provincial Park, Kings Rick Whitman, ph. -- NS Birds 64 (1) p. 18 -- https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S93174637 -- calls heard, photo -Jan 11-12, 2023 Sunday Point Rd, Kelleys Cove, Yarmouth Ervin Olsen, ph. -- NS Birds 65 (2) p. ? -- https://ebird.org/checklist/S125995117

Technical information

Model

NIKON D7000

Lens

300.0 mm f/4.0

ISO

560

Focal length

300 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/4.5

Shutter speed

1/1000 sec

Dimensions

1620 pixels x 1128 pixels

Original file size

589.96 KB