I have been getting almost daily eBird Alerts that Semipalmated Plovers are being seen at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. You may recall that Erika and I found this shorebird during our trip to the ocean on 20 July 2019—so we had this bird on our year and state lists, but not on our Thurston County list. Yesterday, 22 August 2019, we timed our refuge walk to coincide with high tide. High tide limits the area of mudflats the plovers prefer. Success! In fact, we made a conservative count of 17 individuals, a number eBird warned us was high for the county.
Two details of the photograph are of interest. First are the Semipalmated Plover’s semipalmated toes. This term refers to the bird’s partial webbing between its toes. These plovers don’t swim much, if at all, so perhaps semiplamated toes keep them from sinking into the mud. Second, I wondered if this bird could be the very similar, Old World Collared Plover. which very rarely strays to North American coasts. This is not a Collared Plover because the gape of the bill is surrounded by white. The dark sides of the face extend to the gape on the Collared Plover. The Eurasian bird also has brighter yellow legs. I will continue to carefully check the Semipalmated Plovers I see in the future.
Two details of the photograph are of interest. First are the Semipalmated Plover’s semipalmated toes. This term refers to the bird’s partial webbing between its toes. These plovers don’t swim much, if at all, so perhaps semiplamated toes keep them from sinking into the mud. Second, I wondered if this bird could be the very similar, Old World Collared Plover. which very rarely strays to North American coasts. This is not a Collared Plover because the gape of the bill is surrounded by white. The dark sides of the face extend to the gape on the Collared Plover. The Eurasian bird also has brighter yellow legs. I will continue to carefully check the Semipalmated Plovers I see in the future.
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