Jamie and All, I'm not intending to argue either. :-) Ok, let's look at some facts. You wrote:Our sighting of a single Semipalmated Plover was the first reported anywhere in Lincoln County since September, 2013. Data sources were 3 robust sources: OBOL, Lincoln County field notes from The Sandpiper, and eBird. (I know some of us eBird users--and other birders--report EVERYTHING we see.)
First, just because a bird has not been reported does not mean it is not there or has not been seen or has not passed thru. It means it hasn't been reported.
Second, on 29 March 2014 in Pacific WA Semi Plover was reported (by Dave Irons). One might think that because no Semp P's were reported in Lincoln Co since Sept 2013 that might mean that there are none north of there, or even none within that area.
Three, how can a bird that is reported quite a distance north of Lincoln Co be "early" in Lincoln Co nearly a month after the date in WA?
We can certainly have a debate as to the definition of "early". Are these birds "early"? Well, maybe, but actually maybe they are right on time. And importantly I am not suggesting or saying it is not a worthy bird to report (all birds are worthy of reporting, especially shorebirds! ;-) ).
Another fact, we have watched flocks of shorebirds migrating north within the past couple of weeks. Included in those flocks are Semi P's. Some one else asked: "have you been working on Lincoln County beaches" - No, I have not, but if you are suggesting that the flocks of shorebirds we see that are migrating north are somehow dropping all their Semi P's off before they get to Lincoln Co.....well, somehow I doubt that. While I have not been to Lincoln Co, I am willing to bet that some Semi P's have passed thru Lincoln Co over the past 3 weeks if not before that. If no observers witnessed it does not mean that it did not happen.
I don't have the Coos Bay CBC data in front of me, but as I recall Semi P is not an unusual bird on that CBC (Tim???). Yes, I grant you maybe in Lincoln Co it is a rare winter bird, or even absent. I submit that is because of either a lack of habitat that they prefer, or a lack of observers looking in the places they like. I do not know whether they winter in Pacific Co WA, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did (there is good habitat, but whether anyone is looking is another story).
And yes, I agree Lincoln Co is not Coos Co - and thus that might be the issue - we have better habitat for them. However, we are 2 hours away from Lincoln Co, and Lincoln is what - 4, 6 hours from Pacific Co WA, so I think Coos Co beaches are a bit more comparable to Lincoln Co beaches. Both Coos and Pacific Co have reported Semi P before the Lincoln Co report. Hence my statement that it is not really "early" for Semi P's, it is rather right on time.
I would also suggest that if you walked a beach with good habitat for them on a daily basis in April in Lincoln Co (and maybe some months before that), you'd find some Semi P's. What I am fairly sure of, is few people walk the kind of beaches and the length of beaches we do on a daily basis starting in April thru Sept. When you hit a beach for a couple of hours one day a week (or even less than that), you are likely to miss a lot of what goes on out there.
Again, I agree Coos Co is not Lincoln Co, but there is no doubt in my mind that the daily observations we have of Semi P's (and believe me, it is daily as they are rather a common bird) are not all individuals who either wintered in Coos or stopped in Coos and didn't keep going north. They are migrants and we see them come and go all the time. They are quite normal in April.
PS - As a side note, there are actually breeding records of Semi P for Coos Bay! Not sure how many people are aware of that.
Cheers Dave Lauten On 4/22/2014 10:47 AM, Jamie Simmons wrote:
Dave and all, Not intending to argue, but rather to present facts:Our sighting of a single Semipalmated Plover was the first reported anywhere in Lincoln County since September, 2013. Data sources were 3 robust sources: OBOL, Lincoln County field notes from The Sandpiper, and eBird. (I know some of us eBird users--and other birders--report EVERYTHING we see.)Thus it seemed worthy of posting, albeit with a question mark. (Your beach ain't Lincoln County beaches...) Jamie Simmons CorvallisOn Tue, Apr 22, 2014 at 5:53 AM, DJ Lauten and KACastelein <deweysage@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:deweysage@xxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:On 4/21/2014 10:27 PM, Jamie S. (REDACTED: yahoo.com <http://yahoo.com> uses DMARC) wrote:HMSC trail: Semipalmated Plover - 1 (early?) Jamie Simmons CorvallisSemipalmated Plover is not "early" at this time of year. They are rather common on the beach and have been all month. I suppose if you work on the beach like we do you get used to what is around and don't even really realize what you folks who don't work on the beach every day don't see. Just a little clarification (to tell you the truth, Semi P is a bird you could seen just about any time, albeit they are a lot less common in winter). Cheers Dave Lauten
