Mountain Plover - Jory Teltser
Report

Contributor

Date

Location

Long Beach Conservation Area
Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States
Media from this location Illustrated Checklist
Map
Map Coordinates: 41.6349968, -70.3534057
Age
Not specified
Sex
Not specified

Observation details

At 11:18 AM, I received a text message from my housemate (and subsequent Plover Queen) Natalie Donofrio asking for opinions on a shorebird at one of her monitoring sites with attached digiscoped photos. I immediately responded with the identification of Mountain Plover and followed up by asking for the location and if she could stay with the bird. A wave of mania and uncontrollable tremors spread across my body, at which point my coworker Jackie returned to the parked car. I exclaimed through laborious pants that we needed to leave right now and go for this bird. Within 15 minutes, we were on the beach, and with the wave of my Massachusets Audubon Shorebird Monitor Plaquard, I parked the car in the lot and started jogging down to meet Natalie. Within 10 minutes, we were on the bird. And, my God. This bird melted my soul. I had feared that I might never get good looks at this species, as my life looks were a brown speck in an agricultural field in Colorado. This bird was incredibly tame, coming within 7 meters of us. I have never seen such a seductive bird. Completely oblivious beachgoers passed by even closer to it, and it didn't seem to even bat an eye. We watched the bird for about an hour, both through a scope and binoculars. A brilliant tawny gem weaving through the chocolaty purple wrack. By this point, a recent employee's wife had taken screenshots of Natalie's pictures and passed them onto the Massachusetts Rare Bird Alert chat, citing an incorrect location and implying that she had found the bird. Despite my supervisors asking for discretion (this being a location with recently fledged Piping Plovers), the horse had already left the barn. I am very glad that word was able to get out and that many people were able to see this bird. PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL OF BOTH THE MOUNTAIN PLOVER AND THE NESTING PIPING PLOVERS. Once again, it should be noted that the original finder of this bird is Natalie Donofrio.

Technical information

Dimensions
2843 pixels x 3215 pixels
Original file size
1.8 MB