Hello Tweets,

Today we located a pair of breeding plumaged Pacific Golden Plovers along Brady Loop Rd.(immediately west of the intersection of Foster Rd.)at 11:45am and again at 2:45pm-3:45pm. The birds were observed together during both visits in a partially flooded stubble field west of Foster Rd.,but in the afternoon visit were observed with a single breeding plumaged Black-bellied Plover. We viewed both Pacific Golden Plovers at 11:45am at the intersection of Foster and Brady Loop Rds. and were surprisingly the only two shorebirds present at that location and is the same location than we noted a single Am.Golden Plover in high breeding plumage on the 22nd of April. During our morning visit we were also joined by Bob Merrick of Whidbey Island,who also saw both Pacific Golden Plovers and he happened to have his copy of Dennis Paulson's new shorebird book"Shorebirds of North America" and the photographs on page 42 nearly matched our birds today.

The adult male was readily visible even at a distance from Foster Rd.,where we stood with our spotting scopes but upon further viewing located the second bird,which was much duller in overall color and contrast. The adult male was striking and showed distinctive field marks for Pacific Golden Plover including the white strip extending from the sides to the undertail coverts bordered on both sides by a solid black belly. The mantle and crown were evenly flecked with golden and black and the bird showing primaries extending to the tail and not beyond. Unlike the crisp adult male bird,the duller female bird showed less contrast and strongly appeared more black speckled on the belly rather than solid tones. The supercillium on the female was golden in color extending and turning whitish down the sides to the white undertail coverts. At times the female bird was much more difficult to see,as it remained motionless often with it's head tucked within the stubble field.

Upon our afternoon visit at 2:45pm we relocated both birds at the same location,but viewed from the second 90 degree turn along Brady Loop Rd. just west of the Foster Rd. intersection at the base of private road with a large green gate at the entrance. At this time both golden plovers were observed with a single Black-bellied Plovers,as mentioned earlier and stayed close to that bird during our entire visit and were also the only 3 shorebirds within that stubble field! It was a nice comparison to have both the larger Black-bellied Plover and the pair of Pacific Golden Plovers together,as they all wandered around the muddy portions of the stubble field,but occasionally bathed along the edges of the flooded areas. This specific location has been a great spot for shorebirds along Brady Loop Rd. and was our second personal record of Pacific Golden Plovers at this location during spring migration. We encountered 3 individual Pacific Golden Plovers on the 4th of May,2002 at this same location,which was our last sighting for this species.

Our visit to the Brady Loop Rd. complex produced a much greater decrease in shorebird diversity than previous visits!

Other noteworthy species observed along Brady Loop Rd. today included the following:

1 Pied-billed Grebe(heard only)
1 Am.Bittern
1 Green Heron
13 Greater White-fronted Geese
1 Cinnamon Teal
15 Turkey Vultures
3 Osprey(with 1 pair at an active nestsite)
8 Northern Harriers
1 adult Cooper's Hawk
3 Am.Kestrels
1 Merlin
3 Ring-necked Pheasants
14 Black-bellied Plovers
8 Greater Yellowlegs
75+ Whimbrel
2 Black Turnstones(observed with a large flock of Whimbrel and Black-bellied Plovers and represented a personal new species for us at this location)
65+ Western Sandpipers
250+ Least Sandpipers
38 Dunlin
15 Short-billed Dowitchers
7 Wilson's Snipe
2 Northern Rough-winged Swallows
1 Western Scrub Jay
25 Am.Pipits


Mammal highlights for Brady Loop Rd.:

3 Coyotes



Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit at worldnet.att.net