ML616784716

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Behaviors

Flying

Observation details

Lifer! Continuing bird originally found by Ben Pearl almost two weeks ago and refound this morning by Todd Easterla roughly in its usual spot, though fairly distant this morning (roughly 37.495235,-122.149424). It flushed just a few seconds after Todd called it out, but fortunately he was able to keep track of it as it didn't fly far. It stayed fairly active foraging and running around for the 10 minutes I watched it. Great work has been done by many other talented birders to identify this bird as a Piping Plover and not an aberrant depigmented Semipalmated, with some of the key field marks being a bold white wingstripe extending through the primaries, pale rump, dark tertials, and unwebbed toes. Of these marks, I was able to document the first two. My flight shots had the bird's back in shadow making it impossible to discern minor shade differences between back and tertials, and I had no hope of a good look at the feet from this distance. There are also several subtle structural differences others have pointed out. I can't say that I really picked up on these, but the bill seemed just a smidge stubbier and thicker to me. Woohoo! After two and a half hours it felt pretty certain this was going to be another dip for me, and almost certainly the kind when the bird is seen shortly after I leave given how many other skilled birders were there looking. I told myself I had to leave at 9:00 because I needed to get to work, so naturally, Todd called out, "I've got it," at 8:59! There was a brief roller coaster of emotions that immediately followed as I desperately tried to look to the distant spot of mud he was describing, found the area and then tried to pick out the bird just as he said it took flight. Fortunately it proved pretty easy to follow. Then the fun came in trying to help everyone else see it. Someone who wasn't out here this morning but deserves a huge shout out in my opinion is Lucas Stephenson. He was sent some photos of this bird thirdhand and immediately thought it looked good for Piping Plover despite the photos showing gray legs due to mud that was impossible to detect in those photos. When he first forwarded the photo to our local rare bird chat, my first thought was to wonder whether one of the Semipalmated Plovers was actually a Common Ringed, though if I had seen the photo after the mystery bird seen today, I like to think I'd have known better. Anyway, that tells you how vastly different my shorebird skills still are. Thanks to Ben, Lucas, Todd and many others for finding, identifying, and advertising the whereabouts of this bird. It certainly wasn't on my radar as something that might show up.

Additional species

• peep sp. Calidris sp. (peep sp.)

Technical information

Model

COOLPIX P1000

ISO

250

Flash

Flash did not fire

Dimensions

1490 pixels x 1118 pixels

Original file size

236.67 KB