Posted for Jim Green:

Yesterday  (Wed., 10/13) I went up to Harney Ponds and arrived there
around 11 am. Things seemed fairly quiet & inactive. I found a handful of
least sandpipers & 1 Grtr. and 2 Lesser Yellowlegs. Some killdeer were
flying in & out. At about 11:30 a flock of 60 - 70 Amer. pipits flew in and would fly up in the air in groups of 10to 15 and then return to the ground again.

Shortly after that a flock of shore birds flew in over the pond and circled and did figure 8's before finally landing. I was amazed to discover that all of the birds were AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVERS!!!!.  After about 15 minutes half of them flew off & then returned 20 minutes later. It was a great chance to study them carefully through the scope. I have seen them before including at this location but never in such large numbers. I had counted 49 of these American Golden Plovers! They were all still there when I left around 1:30pm.

I was content to study the pipits and then was amazed with this icing on my cake.