Feb. 19, 20223 - St. George Island Shorebirds
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Three weeks ago, I told you about my walk on the beach at St. George Island State park. That time I didn’t find the Snowy Plovers and Piping Plovers I was looking for. It was time for a second attempt. This time I walked less than a mile before I came to a group of small shorebirds. These Sanderlings were part of that group. The bird on the far left looks different. But it wasn’t one of my target birds, it was a Semi-palmated Plover.
Here's a closer look at the Semi-palmated Plover. It’s a small bird, only 7¼ inches long. “Semi-palmated” refers to the webbing between the bird’s toes. Its toes are not fully webbed like those of a duck. The webbing goes only about halfway along the toes. Hence, the use of the prefix “semi.”
But there was one Piping Plover in this group of birds. It could easily be mistaken for a Semi-palmated Plover because both are the same size, have orange legs, and they have white bellies and a darker back. However, the Piping Plover has an orange beak and is much lighter brown than the Semi-palmated.
Piping Plovers are on the endangered species list. They spend the winter along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. During the nesting season, they travel inland to the Dakotas and up into Canada. A few of them nest on the Great Lakes beaches. An attempt has been made to get them to nest on Park Point in Duluth, Minnesota. So far, that has not been successful.
There were also two Snowy Plovers in this group of shorebirds, so I managed to see both of my target species. This one has lots of “jewelry”; identification bands to help keep track of these rare birds. Bands can be placed on the upper or lower part of the leg. They can be on either the right or left leg. There are several different colors of bands. There could be no bands, or one or more bands, on the upper or lower part of the leg. The bands could be in different sequences (red over blue, green over yellow, etc.) Even as a former math teacher, I won’t try to calculate all the different combinations that are possible.
I did report this bird to the Florida Shorebird Alliance. They keep track of banded birds, so researchers have access to records of where and when the banded birds have been seen. I haven’t heard back from them yet, but I’m hoping to get some details about the history of this particular Snowy Plover.
UPDATE: I heard back from the Fish and Wildlife Service with some history about this banded bird. “The individual snowy plover you observed is a female that was banded as an adult on 7/1/2021 at St. George Island State Park. Since banding she has laid 2 nests with 2 different males. She successfully hatched 6 chicks and produced 2 fledglings. “
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