Just to supply details on the earlier report from Dan Haas:
I was at the Inlet, looking down on Skimmer Island and the mudflats
from the shoulder of US-50 overlooking Hooper's Crab House and near
the bridge (at low tide -- Saturday Low Tide = 3:18PM, Sunday =
4:03PM)
I'd scanned from the right, along Skimmer Island, then left across
the mud flats and was feeling mighty pleased with finding the red knots
(15 of them) when I came up on the last bird on the flats.
It was preening and its head & neck were out of sight, but even so,
I said "My gosh [-- or some such --] that's a big shorebird!"
When it raised
its head and the slender neck, then profile of the head, and that long,
slim bill showed themselves and I immediately thought "godwit."
I checked to see if it might be a whimbrel, but there was no such
prominent eye stripe and the bill was not decurved, though it was
bi-colored, pinkish at the base and black toward the tip. The overall
color was buffy underneath showing through the patterned back as well.
Which prompted the thought that "this is the wrong color -- not as
dark as a Hudsonian, in fact it looks just like a Marbled . . . but
it's the wrong
time of the year."
Then the bird, most cooperatively, lifted its wing so I could see the
"cinnamon" underneath and confirmed what I'd dared not think, that
it was
a marbled godwit.
Before calling Dan, I checked my Yellow Book in the car which
indicated
that there are occasional spring sightings and this one was within 5
days of
the dates listed there.
Good Luck if you try tomorrow.
PIPING PLOVERS at Assateague. There's no surprise in this sighting;
they've been returning north of the State Park parking lot by the
beach, but
I thought their unusually close location this year might urge some
to try for
them who hadn't before.
Walking north along the beach, just shy of 2 kilometers (marked on
poles
at the base of the dunes, e.g. 10, 9.5, 9.0 . . .) the plover was
sitting on the
nest within the steel anti-fox protective cage which is easily
visible from
the beach.)
Staying behind the warning signs, she would be visible with bins,
but a
scope makes her very clear, As I walked back, I noticed two
sanderlings
scooting at the waves' edge, then a smaller, sandy colored plover
near them
-- the male piping plover -- foraging around, perhaps within 30 yards .
He really filled the scope's field.
Leo Weigant |