American Golden-Plover
A birding friend of ours, William Leigh, had posted that he saw 16 American Golden-Plovers in the fields next to the Rockingham County Produce Auction. This species has been spotted there in previous years, but has been an elusive species for me. Although I have seen and photographed Pacific Golden-Plovers, I had never seen an American Golden-Plover. This species spends the summer breeding season in northern Canada, and winters in South America. Fall migration is typically along one of two routes - through the Mississippi River Valley or over the Atlantic Ocean. A few birds migrate south along the western U.S. coast or down the Appalachian Mountain chain. They are rare but regular visitors to our neck of the woods, and sometimes, storms in the Atlantic will blow them inland. The one time that I went birding with my late brother, Dave, we were in Missouri where 300 to 400 of them had been seen the day before and the day after where we were birding, but I hadn't seen a single one of them. Walt Childs and I had tried to see them a couple of times before at the produce auction without success.
We decided to try again. When we arrived at the auction site, the place was loaded with trucks filled with fruits, vegetables, and flowers, and an auctioneer was auctioning items over a loud speaker. We drove around as far as we could from all the commotion, and searched the fields. There it was - a single American Golden-Plover (my life bird # 617) and a few Killdeers. I suspected that all the commotion had driven the other American Golden-Plovers to nearby fields.
American Golden-Plover
American Golden-Plover
American Golden-Plover
American Golden-Plover
American Golden-Plover
American Golden-Plover
American Golden-Plover
American Golden-Plover
American Golden-Plover
We then headed to Hillandale Park in nearby Harrisonburg where warblers had been reported over the past few days. We ran into another birding friend there, Andrew Clem, who had been to the produce auction earlier than we were, and had not seen any American Golden-Plovers when he was there. He reported seeing an Ovenbird at Hillandale Park, but had not been to the section of the park where I had seen a few warblers the one time I had been there last spring. So we went to where I had seen warblers previously (along the path from the bike path to the cabin), and did see several warbler species : American Redstart, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Black and White, Black-throated Green, Cape May, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, and Northern Parula.
Magnolia Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
American Redstart
Blackpoll Warbler
Black and White Warbler
Black-throated Green
Northern Parula
Cape May Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Blue-headed Vireo
Brown Thrasher
We then went to the Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch, but only saw a few high flyers. We told some of the hawk watchers about the American Golden-Plover at the produce auction, and read this morning (9/21) that they had gone there late in the afternoon and saw 22 American Golden-Plovers.
(left to right): Cooper's Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Bald Eagle