Two Lesser Sand-plovers (Charadrius mongolus, aka Mongolian Plover) have turned up on the west coast this summer. The first was at Clam Beach, Humboldt Co. CA on July 9-12. I was unable to find out how many California Records there are, though Paulson (1993) put the number at 4 at that time.
The second was a bird seen on the Necanicum Estuary, Seaside, Clatsop Co., OR from July 16 to July 19 (extensive searching on July 20 failed to turn the bird up). This is the fourth Oregon Record , the last was from July, 1986. Given that the earlier Humboldt individual was seen more than 300 miles south of the later Clatsop individual, it's probably safe to assume they are different individuals. The Clatsop bird has a distinctive chip a the tip of the upper mandible that should give the photo analysts something to do.
The "Mongolian" Plover, is the east Asian subspecies of Lesser Sand-plover and is a very striking bird. It has the posture of a Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus) and a bright, orangy-rufus head which made the Necanicum stand out from the 400+ Semipalmated Plovers (Charadrius semipalmatus) with which it kept close company. We watched the Clatsop bird pull numerous long dark polychaetes from the mud.
Posted by mbalame at July 21, 2005 5:16 PM