Thursday afternoon, I got a call from Greg Jackson. He was in the area
birding and had a probable Wilson's Plover at Walker Pond. He said it was on
the back side of the pond and heat waves were bad, so he wouldn't make the
official call without confirmation. I was working at Upper Bear Creek Reservoir
at the time, so I told him I would check it out when I got back in the area. I
did go by there later, but heat waves were still bad. I stayed 30 minutes and
never saw a bird that resembled a Wilson's Plover. The closest I could get was
a Wilson's Phalarope, name resemblance only. Regina and I took lunch to
McFarland Park today, so we went back to Walker...just in case. After about 20
minutes of scanning, I still saw nothing that looked like a Wilson's Plover.
I did, however, see a small gray plover that, despite the distance and heat
waves, was easy to confirm as a Piping. This was a nice consolation prize, I
thought. Piping had been on my Hit List (seen in the Shoals. but not by me). I
made one more scan and found the real prize, the Wilson's Plover. It was
standing with some Killdeer, then began chasing them. Viewing conditions were
poor because of the heat waves and photos were not possible. If you want to
try for this one, early morning would be better. Park in the gravel farm
entrance and look straight to the back east corner of the western pond. Greg
said he thinks this is the second inland record for the state. Five
Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks are also present, near the road at the western
end of this pond. NOTE: These fields are posted, so DO NOT leave the gravel
area and attempt to walk the fields. On my way home, Jeff Garner called and
was watching a Swallow-tailed Kite soaring overhead near his house, near
Cloverdale. Greg had said he had one between Town Creek and Red Bank Thursday.
These would be the second and third Shoals area records.
Damien Simbeck
Sent from my smart phone. You can teach an old dog new tricks.
