I have gone to Huntley Meadows the past two days to look at the American
Golden Plover. I went yesterday afternoon at about 5:30 and found the bird
while looking from the boardwalk. This morning at about 11, I went in the
back entrance and walked to both observation platforms on the opposite side
of the water. I had closer looks at the bird, but I was still not very
close. I took some distant photos and have posted them on my SlickPic
site. I had some good looks when seeing the bird through my 60 power
telescope, but my camera has only a 42 power zoom.
http://www.slickpic.com/u/WilliamYoung?grid
The plover has some black on the breast but is not in breeding plumage. The
undertail coverts are mostly white with a smudge of dark feathers. The back
is a mottled golden color when seen in the right light. From the front, the
bird appears to have a white crown, but the two broad white supercilia do
not meet in the back. The bill appears to be short and small.
There were a lot of birds other than shorebirds at Huntley Meadows last
night, One of the ways that I found the plover was that the shorebirds were
flushed by a juvenile Northern Harrier flying over the marsh. It was a rich
orange brown. There were also two juvenile Little Blue Herons feeding
actively.
Last night, I stopped at the Air Force Memorial in Arlington and saw eight
Common Nighthawks. I saw the first two at 8:30, and two remained when I
left at 10:00. A lot of bats were flying around with them.
William Young
Arlington, VA
