The Curlew Sandpiper at Assateaque was still there on Monday. Sharon and I went down in the afternoon and met Susan Zevin and we all made the trek up the beach to the 8.5 mile marker and then proceeded directly to the bay on a slight angle to the north just before you get to the trees - probably the same spot where it had been reported over the weekend. We observed it from just before 4pm until about 4:30. The bird was in the plumage described as molting into winter - lots of white showing through the red giving it a blotchy look almost like a leopard. The entire time we were there, there was a semipalmated plover feeding close by and we saw it aggressively chase off the Curlew several times. It didn't fly - just ran away a bit and they both fed until plover thought they were too close. We left for the larger mud flats north of the wooded area and saw oystercatchers, willets, semipal & least sandpipers, piping and semipal plovers, ?s-b? dowitcher, dunlin, and caspian,least,common,& forster's terns. On the way back we stopped at the curlew spot again and just before we got there it looked like the plover chased off the curlew which we saw fly north - possibly to the other mud flat. Also lots of sandpipers and some black-bellied plovers along the beach. One tricolored heron on the spit behind the curlew. Otherwise, the usual gulls, crows, pelicans, etc. Weather was perfect with a nice breeze off the ocean which kept the bugs away. Happy hunting, Tom Bradford