Tag: Semi-palmated plover

Shorebirding in Pierce Heating Up

Least sandpiper in foreground, Western on the left, and Baird's in upper right.
Least sandpiper in foreground, Western on the left, and Baird’s in upper right.

Mid August is here and the juvenile vagrants are starting to show up in Pierce County. Yesterday I got out intending to do the usual Levy Pond, Fife Saddle Creek Oxbow, and 56th St. Stormwater Ponds loop, but got stalled at Levy Pond where I found a Solitary Sandpiper, and wanted to take plenty of time to assure myself of the ID and get photos good enough to convince eBird.

28925251436_3be58fc4de_z

Today I took Kay back to Levy Pond to see the SOLS without success but instead we found a Baird’s Sandpiper, another really good Pierce Co. bird. This was a Pierce lifer for me. I contacted Bruce and he got there just after I left, and he had the Solitary. After success finding the Black Phoebe at the Fife Saddle Creek area Kay and I headed back to spend a while visiting with Bruce and Peter W. but the SOLS seemed to have gone back into hiding.

Love this view highlighting the very long wings, crossing behind the tail.
Love this view highlighting the very long wings, crossing behind the tail.
Baird's Sandpiper
Baird’s Sandpiper

From there we headed for Brown’s Point to look for alcids, Common Tern, Parasitic Jaeger, and have a sit in the sun, but on our way Bruce called to tell us about a Semi-palmated Plover at Middle Waterway. We pulled a u-turn, headed there and found that FOY Pierce species. Overall a great 2-day, low effort shorebirding time.

Semi-palmated plover
Semi-palmated plover

28986565805_84fb11b225_z