Golden Plover on the Spit

[Ed O'Connor]

Yesterday evening I cycled down to the Cell 2 area, which is now in a state of chaos and flux with little shorebird habitat left. I saw a single juvenile American Golden Plover there along with Killdeer and Spotted Sandpipers. In an area west of the Lighthouse, there were a number of flycatchers, including Least and Olive-sided. Wood Duck and Green Heron in the Triangle Pond.

[nana]

Tonight out TTP in what is left of the muddy shorebird habitat in the new mini cells of Cell 2, an adult Golden Plover, a juvenile Black-bellied Plover, 2 Least, 2 Semi-palmated Plovers and 1 Semi-palmated Sandpiper. All were standing atop the rough shale resting for a good part of the time I was there.
The 3 trumpeter cygnets are learning to fly. There was an Osprey circling over Cell 1, 5 Pied-billed grebes in Bay D along with a pair of Green-winged Teal. A few Caspian Terns still near the mini-cells along with several Great Egrets and a couple of Horned Larks. Over a dozen Monarchs along the way.

[Kris Ito]

The Golden & Black-bellied were still present this morning in the "former Cell Two". They seemed to like perching on the top edges of the various berms in this area or just in the  middle of the rough dirt fields. The birds were most often found together, and there may have been a second Black-bellied on it's own but I can't confirm for sure. Other birds included 6 Semipalmated Plovers, 2 Pectoral Sandpipers, a Lesser Yellowlegs, 3 Least Sandpipers, 30+ Killdeer, and two Green Heron over in the Triangle Pond.

For those of us still learning (like me), the Golden Plover is an Adult molting out of its breeding plumage and still showing lots of black markings. You can also see gold/yellow feathers on its back if you're able to get close enough. The Golden is also smaller than the Black-bellied with a smaller bill. The Black-bellied Plover is a juvenile, with a fresh set of buffy feathers and no black, except for the big black patches you can see in it's "armpits" when it flies! So to recap, the Golden Plover looks more black, and the Black-bellied looks more gold! In this heavily cropped pic, the Golden Plover is on the right.
Golden and Sleepy Black-bellied by Kris Ito, on Flickr

[JW Mills]

The American Golden and Black-bellied Plovers are still present as of this morning.
Also 2 Semipalmated Plovers, 2 Semipalmated Sandpipers and 2 Spotted Sandpipers.