Hi My wife and I were at Hawk Ridge yesterday in the morning. We had a good time there was good light for photos etc. We saw Merlin, Osprey,Sharp shinned Hawks, Broad winged Hawks and plenty of other raptors. Clinton Nienhaus was doing excellent color commentary and we had fun but we had to be back for a meeting in the late afternoon so we had to go around noon but as we were leaving someone told us that the day before there had been a report of a dozen American Golden Plovers in the ball field at park point. The sky was getting dark and it was starting to sprinkle but we thought we’d give it a shot. I’ve seen shorebirds at that park before because there are areas on that field that are prone to puddles so we drove along the road south of the eld and stopped. The birds were difficult to see without binoculars in that light but I soon started seeing the American Golden Plovers. I got out of the car and walked slowly to the wet grass and counted five plovers but there might have been another as I saw something moving further out also. I also saw a pectoral sandpiper right next to one of the plovers as well as a single killdeer. One plover got as close as ten feet from me. I have some photos on my flicker page. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ronsthoughts/with/29824993565/ I want to thank the person who told me about this bird since it was a lifer for me. Ron Taube Coon Rapids
