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Huntington Beach S.P. on 3-24



Hi Carolinabirders,
On Friday, Mar. 29, I went to Huntington Beach State Park, doing my
shorebird census at the jetty pond and on the jetty.  31 species id'd.

Common Loon-1
Loon sp-1 an interesting individual smaller than most Common Loons with
a short thin black bill, held straight out, dark brown head, with a
diffuse white area on the side of the head.  The eye was at the level of
the edge between white and dark. Dark back with white squares, no chin
strap, gray flanks, white foreneck, chin and throat.  A smooth edge to
the demarcation between white throat and brown side of neck.  I didn't
get a handle on the shape of the crown.  The only other thing is that it
appeared short necked with the head almost sitting on top of the body of
the bird.  It was fighting a strong outgoing tide in the inlet between
the jetties and was actively feeding. It was clearly not a Red-throated
Loon.
Brown Pelican-1
Double-crested Cormorant-4
Great Egret-1
Snowy Egret-1
Bufflehead-1 female
Black-bellied Plover-4
Piping Plover-6 or 7 at least 4 individuals were banded
Great Yellowlegs-2
Willet-2
Ruddy Turnstone-5
Sanderling-3
Western Sandpiper-5
Purple Sandpiper-24
Dunlin-2
Short-billed Dowitcher-32
Laughing Gull-10 all migrating north up the beach
Ring-billed Gull-1
Herring Gull-2 immature
Caspian Tern-2
Forster's Tern-8
N. Mockingbird-1
Savannah Sparrow-6
E. Meadowlark-1

The banded Piping Plovers had this banding scheme. All banded Plovers
had silver metal bands on the right leg.  The color plastic bands were
on the left leg.
Plover #1-white band
Plover #2-green band
Plover#3- medium blue and white
Plover #4- Turqoise, green or blue depending on how the light hit it.
Plover # 5 blue and white.  This may have been the same bird as #3.
All bands were below the joint and above the foot.
All colors did seem distinctly different from the birds in the fall that
had distinctly light blue and white bicolored bands.  Those fall-early
winter birds fit the schematic for
adult birds banded in New Brunswick maritime Canada in 1999 and 2000.
An interesting day.

Jack Peachey
Conway, SC