Hey again, I went back to Cupsogue a little after 1pm with my girlfriend, Stephanie, and could not relocate the Wilson's Plover. Previously, it was interacting with three Piping Plovers in the area that I previously described, as well as roosted occasionally with a small group of Sanderling and Dunlin that were attempting to stay low and out of the wind. None of these birds were in the area, save for one Piping Plover. We have noticed at mid and low tide that many shorebirds congregate out on the extensive flood shoals in the bay just north of the park, and many were there when we arrived that second time. We scoped the shoals for quite some time and could not find the Wilson's Plover, though we did come across as many as 7 Piping Plovers at one time.
As for the Golden-Plover: I did not actually observe the bird, but rather it was Stephanie and our field team leader who saw and identified it. Steph is sure it was one of the Golden-Plovers, as it had a shorter bill, golden-tinted back, and did not show black axillaries like the Black-bellied Plovers that it was with, however she nor I had considered the fact that it could have been a European at the time. For what it's worth, she says now that she does remember it having a somewhat yellowish-seeming face and breast, but she's nowhere near certain of which species it actually was and did not obtain a photo. We did not observe any *Pluvialis *plovers on the mainland at Cupsogue today while conducting a very thorough sweep of the park for Piping Plovers. There were around a dozen Black-bellied Plovers out on the exposed flood shoals with the other shorebirds, however. Good luck with finding either bird if you go! Justin LeClaire Shirley -- 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/[email protected]/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/ --
