At 5 PM yesterday afternoon (Sunday, 16 July), on the little bit of Salt Lake that extends into South Dakota, there was a Piping Plover. Several hundred yards of running or flying would place the plover in MN.
If you are in Lac qui Parle Co. to visit Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge (BSNWR), then you should consider visiting Salt Lake as well: on each of the last two weekends, counts there have yielded over 1000 individuals of 10+ shorebird species. Speaking of BSNWR, the Snowy Plovers have, at least temporarily, moved away from the tip of the highway-75-dam quarry peninsula. As the chicks cannot yet fly, they are unable to leave the peninsula; thus their father, who is attending them, is likely to be on the peninsula as well. However, the family is now ranging more widely, which means that they might, conceivably, be *anywhere* on the peninsula's shores. Phil Chu Department of Biology St. John's University Collegeville, MN 56321
