Hi All, Given the recent case of the Red-necked Stint (which vanished from Massachusetts only to show up in NY), I figured it was worth forwarding this fantastic find up in Plymouth, MA. Certainly a bird to keep one's eyes open for!
Good Birding, Jacob Drucker Amherst, MA Begin forwarded message: > From: Marshall Iliff <mil...@aol.com> > Date: July 21, 2013 1:39:26 AM EDT > To: Massbird <massb...@theworld.com> > Subject: [MASSBIRD] PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVER at Plymouth Beach > Reply-To: Marshall Iliff <mil...@aol.com> > > Massbird, > > WIth the BBC pelagic trip canceled due to weather, unfortunately, a group of > friends and I decided to convene on Plymouth Beach this evening for a bit of > low-key shorebirding. With permits, we (Ian Davies, Jess Johnson, Luke Seitz, > Tim Spahr, Matt Garvey, Jeremiah Trimble, Peter Trimble, and Mark Faherty) > drove well out the beach to the Goldenrod Foundation house and walked about a > mile to the tip from there. It was a gorgeous evening, with Piping Plovers > all around, over two thousand peep to keep us busy, multiple roosting gulls, > and lots of flyovers terns and shorebirds. By the end of our visit, we > recorded Marbled Godwit (continuing?), 2 Black Skimmers, 6 hendersoni > Short-billed Dowitchers, 7 Red Knots, and 2 first-summer Lesser Black-backed > Gulls. That alone would have made for a great evening. > > But it got better. As the sun was setting, a Pacific Golden-Plover flew in > calling overhead. After some initial befuddlement at the unusual call, we > realized what we were seeing and hearing just as the bird settled in on the > flats. This gave us enough time to get some photos and to call Ian and Jess, > who had hiked 1/2 mile further down the beach. They made it back just in > time, as the birds were all flushed by something, did a big loop around us, > and then the plover flew back in calling and landed again. Ian and Jess both > got close scope views, but the bird stayed less than a minute before picking > up again and flying up high and straight off to the south. During the entire > observation it gave the appearance of a bird on the move, maybe one dropped > to the beach by the passing cold front. > > It is amazing to ponder how often extremely rare shorebirds like this may do > just this: drop in for a few minutes and then continue on their way. We > certainly felt fortunate to be in the right place at the right time and to be > among so many friends to share in the good fortune. > > Pay attention to any golden-plovers in the next few days! Probably a good > general policy for July anyway, which is at the early end of American > Golden-Plover migration and has some precedent for Pacific Goldens on the > move (especially in Europe). There are only a few prior records for the East > Coast: > > - Scarborough, Maine, 11 Sep 1911 (specimen) > - Johnson Sod Farm, NJ, 4-16 Sep 2001 > > - Plum Island, MA, 21 Apr-5 May 2002 > > - Mecox Bay, NY, 1 Sep 2003 > (http://www.nybirds.org/Publications/KB53no4_PacGoldPlover.htm) > > - Bombay Hook NWR, July 1990; this bird took over a decade to gain acceptance > > In addition, there are three records from Newfoundland > (http://birdtherock.com/pacific-golden-plover/), several from Greenland, and > at least one from Bermuda. Amazingly, western Europe has a large number of > records. > > With thanks to Ian for keeping the group eBird checklist and then sharing it > among all participants, here is my version, with notes and description and > some iPhone-scoped images of the Pacific Golden-Plover: > > http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S14696400 > > Good birding! > > Marshall Iliff > > -- > > > **************************** > Marshall J. Iliff > miliff AT aol.com > West Roxbury, MA > **************************** > eBird/AKN Project Leader > www.ebird.org > www.avianknowledge.net > Cornell Lab of Ornithology > Ithaca, NY > **************************** -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
