August 29, 2003 report
Sorry Allen, but you missed the plover by only a few minutes!
I swung by The Inn at Afton and picked up Gordy Adamski to head over to
Leonard's Pond in Rockingham County in search of the American Golden Plover.
We arrived by 5:05 p.m. just in time to run into an approaching
storm. There were quite a few Canada Geese, a few each of Greater
Yellowleg, Spotted and Solitary Sandpiper, one female Northern Shoveler,
and Blue-winged Teal, three Barn Swallow and approximately 20 Tree
Swallow. The real challenge was picking through ALL the Killdeer in search
of THE plover. They were everywhere I looked! We finally located the
target plover, sitting down in the mud along the narrow point jutting out
from the right side of pond as you're standing along the fence/road facing
WNW. Within a few minutes of locating the plover we were joined by Jim
Fields from Harrisonburg, I believe. Fortunately the storm was a bit north
of us and quickly moved on. The plover eventually stood, stretching wings
and legs and I managed to capture one photo that shows the left wing
partially extended. I was somewhat surprised at amount of pale banding on
the wing and have sent the picture to Ned Brinkley for his comments.
At approximately 5:15 the plover took to the air, making at least one wide
circle over the road and then back over the pond and we were hopeful it
would settle back down. However, it made one last circle, crossing the
road, heading south out-of-sight. We remained several more minutes but the
plover did not return.
Brenda Tekin
Charlottesville, VA
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